Release of the Iraqi journalist held by US military

The independent daily Al-Fourat announced on 11 March that the editor of its culture section, Majed Fadhil Zaboun, was finally released after being held for 11 days by US troops at the Syrian border. He is said to be in a very bad physical and psychological condition after being beaten, humiliated and repeatedly forced to stand against a wall for hours on end. The US authorities reportedly confiscated his passport and mobile phone. ---------------------------- 9 mars 2005 - US military holds Iraqi journalist for past nine days Reporters Without Borders today called for the immediate release of Iraqi journalist Majed Fadhil Zaboun (photo) of the independent daily Al-Fourat, who was been held by the US military ever since he was arrested on the Syrian border on 28 February as he was returning from a conference in Damascus. "This is not the first time that the US forces have arbitrarily detained a journalist in Iraq," the press freedom organization said. "Even in a sensitive theatre of operations, it is important that the armed forces continue to respect the work of professional journalists." The organization added: "The US authorities must either explain why they have been holding this journalist all this time, or free him at once." Reached by telephone, Al-Fourat editor Shaker Al-Jabbouri said he was "outraged" by Zaboun's arrest. "Everyone knows Majed Fadhil Zaboun, he is a respected writer and journalist," he said. "This illegal arrest is a fragrant violation of his rights. The Americans suspect everyone and don't hesitate to imprison innocents. This is not what I call democracy." The editor of the newspaper's culture section, Zaboun went to Damascus on 22 February with a delegation of Iraqi poets to cover a conference. His colleagues became concerned when he had not reappeared several days after his scheduled return and started to look for him. They did not learn he had been arrested until 3 March, after calling the US embassy in Baghdad, where officials assured them they would "do the necessary" to get him released. An independent, Arabic-language newspaper created in 2003, Al-Fourat concentrates on the analysis of politics in Iraq and the rest of the Middle East. It has a circulation of 10,000 and is distributed throughout the country.