US Army releases Reuters cameraman after holding him for eight months

Reporters Without Borders voiced relief at the release on 21 January 2006 of Samer Mohammed Noor, a cameraman working for British news agency Reuters, who has been held by the US Army in Iraq since 5 June 2005. Noor was arrested at his home in the Tall Afar district in northern Baghdad during a routine Iraqi army search. His brother, who was arrested at the same time, was released shortly afterwards. He reported that Iraqi soldiers had beaten the cameraman until he lost consciousness. He was then handed over to the US Army and was first held at Abu Ghraib prison before being transferred to Camp Bucca, near Basra. "We are relieved at the release of Samer Mohammed Noor but we do not understand the reasons for keeping him in detention for more than eight months, particularly since there was no concrete evidence against him”, the worldwide press freedom organisation said. “The American forces should provide an explanation for this and if they have made a mistake they should apologise to the cameraman, his family and the media which employs him”. Reporters Without Borders added that it was also repeating its appeal for the release of a journalist working for CBS News, Abdel Amir Younes Hussein, who has been held without trial for more than ten months. Hussein, a cameraman for CBS News is still being held at Camp Bucca prison. The US Army arrested him in Mosul on 5 April 2005 and he was at first held at Abu Graib before being transferred on 7 July to Camp Bucca. CBS News has several times condemned the continued detention of its cameraman and the legal confusion surrounding the case. The US military authorities have produced none of the evidence that they say they have against him. He has been denied access to a lawyer and refused visits from his family or employer. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 16.01.2006 - US military frees two Iraqi journalists after holding them for several months Reporters Without Borders voiced relief today at the release yesterday of Majeed Hameed, a correspondent for the pan-Arab TV station Al-Arabiya, and Reuters cameraman Ali Omar Al Mashadani, who had been held by the US military for several months in the Camp Bucca detention centre. “We call on the US army to show more discernment and restraint in future in order to avoid arresting and holding journalists in an arbitrary manner,” the press freedom organisation said. “We reiterate our call for the release of two other imprisoned journalists, Abdel Amir Younes Hussein and Samer Mohamed Noor,” Reporters Without Borders added. “The US military should quickly produce evidence to support their allegations against these journalists or free them at once.” Mashadani was arrested after a search of his home during a routine sweep through his neighbourhood on 8 August. Hameed was arrested by US troops at the funeral of one of his relatives in Ramadi, north of Baghdad, on 15 September. Both were held all this time without any charges being brought against them. Repeated requests by their employers for information about the reasons for their arrests were never answered. Requests by lawyers, families and employers to visit the detainees were denied. Hussein and Noor are two other journalists working for international news media who have been held for several months without any grounds being given. Hussein, a CBS News cameraman, was arrested on 5 April. Noor, who works for Reuters, was arrested on 4 June. Both are still in Camp Bucca. Unidentified gunmen meanwhile attacked and killed Louai Salam Radeef, a cameraman with the satellite TV station Al-Baghdadia, on 12 January in Alshoola, north of Baghdad. They also injured his assistant, Amer Mohammed. Radeef was the 77th journalist to be killed in Iraq since the start of the war in March 2003. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of US freelance journalist Jill Carroll, who works for the Christian Science Monitor. Carroll was abducted on 7 January in the west Baghdad neighbourhood of Adel, while her Iraqi interpreter, Allan Enwlyah, was killed. A total of 35 journalists have been kidnapped in Iraq since the start of the war. Phil Sands, a British reporter for the Dubai-based, English-language newspaper Emirates Today, was kidnapped on 26 December and was freed by chance during a US army operation five days later without anyone ever noticing his absence. A US central command spokesman, Capt. Eric Clarke, told the press: “It was an amazing case. No-one ever knew Sands was missing.”