BAGHDAD (AFP) — The US military on Wednesday freed an Iraqi photographer working for The Associated Press after detaining him for two years on accusations of aiding terrorism in the country, a military official said.
Bilal Hussein, 36, was "turned over" to members of his organisation by US military officials at 3:45 pm (1245 GMT) on Wednesday, Major Matt Morgan from US detainee operations in Iraq said.
Hussein, who was part of an AP photo team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2005, was released after the US military conducted a review and concluded that he was no longer a threat.
"The turn over was at an entry checkpoint near Camp Victory near the Baghdad airport," Morgan said referring to a key American military base.
Hussein had been detained since April 12, 2006, after he was arrested in Ramadi, 100 kilometres (60 miles) west of Baghdad.
His release came after the Iraqi judicial system granted him amnesty.
On Monday Major General Douglas Stone, head of US detainee operations in Iraq, said Hussein was no longer a "threat."
"After the action by the Iraqi judicial committees, we reviewed the circumstances of Hussein's detention and determined that he no longer presents an imperative threat to security," Stone said.
"I have therefore ordered that he be released from coalition force custody."
The US military had accused Hussein of being a "terrorist media operative" and said he had aroused suspicion because he was often at the scene of insurgent attacks as they occurred.
He was detained after marines entered his house in Ramadi to establish a temporary observation post and allegedly found bomb-making materials, insurgent propaganda and a surveillance photograph of a US military installation.
According to the military he had also offered to forge an identification card for a wanted "terrorist" who was being pursued by coalition forces.
An Iraqi judicial committee, appointed to implement the amnesty law, on April 7 dismissed terrorism-related allegations against Hussein and ordered his release.
The photographer continued to remain in military custody under a second charge alleging that he had taken part in a kidnapping.
US officials maintain that a UN Security Council mandate allows them to keep anyone in custody who they believe is a security risk, even if an Iraqi judicial body has ordered that prisoner freed.
AP says Hussein was alleged by the US military to have had contacts with the kidnappers of an Italian citizen, Salvatore Santoro.
In December 2004 Hussein photographed Santoro's body with two masked insurgents standing over it with guns.
Hussein maintains he was one of three journalists who were stopped at gunpoint by insurgents and taken to see the propped-up body.
On April 13, a separate Iraqi judicial committee concluded that the kidnapping charge against Hussein should also be dismissed.
Paris-based media watchdog Reporters Without Borders and New York-based Human Rights Watch had both appealed for him to be freed.
"Hussein's release is very good news but it comes after two years of unjustified detention," Reporters Without Borders said in a statement on Wednesday.
"He was deprived of his freedom on the basis of baseless allegations. We regret the slowness with which the US authorities investigated this case and the lack of transparency surrounding it."
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