A freelance photographer who the US army seized in a night time raid on his home in Iraq has been freed after almost a year and a half in military detention without charge.
Ibrahim Jassam, a freelance cameraman for Reuters, was arrested about 30 km south of Baghdad in September 2008, on grounds which the military has declined to disclose.
Evidence against Jassam, an Iraqi-born national, was and remains classified, US officials told the new agency, in spite of an Iraqi Court ordering his release one month after his arrest.
In defiance of that order, US authorities held Jassam at Camp Cooper, and later moved him 550km away to Bucca prison, only to be sent back to Camp Cropper when it emerged the prison was closed.
Speaking to the LA Times, Jassam claimed US interrogators initially accused him of disseminating material relating to insurgent attacks, a charge which he denied and which was never brought.
But the freelancer also claimed his interrogators later said he “was captured by mistake,” in line with the November 2208 court judgement, ordering his release due to a lack of evidence.
His allegations that the US military 'got it wrong' were rejected to the Times by Marine Lt Col. Patricia Johnson, spokeswoman for the US military’s detainee operations. She said there was evidence against Jassam, but reiterated that it was classified.
Media freedom groups point out that Jassam was the last of several Iraqi journalists to be detained and eventually freed by the US military, none of whom have been charged.
"I am very pleased his long incarceration without charge is finally over," said Reuters’ editor-in-chief David Schlesinger.
“I wish the process to release a man who had no specific accusations against him had been swifter.”
Feb 12, 2010
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