Bilal Hussein
Encyclopedia
Bilal Hussein is an Associated Press
photojournalist based in Fallujah
, Iraq
who had been detained by U.S. forces, suspected of aiding insurgents in Iraq
. He was handed over to face charges in the Iraqi Central Court, reportedly over the circumstances of his photos supplied by the U.S. military. American and Iraqi governments were criticized for violating the Geneva Conventions
, and for detaining Hussein without any evidence. He was finally released without charge in 2008.
One of his photographs was part of a package of 20 Associated Press photographs that won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography
. His was an image of four insurgents in Fallujah firing a mortar and small arms during the U.S.-led offensive in the city in November 2004.
On September 17, 2006, it was reported that Hussein has been imprisoned by the United States military since April 2006 without publicly known charges or hearings; his captors citing "imperative reasons of security" under United Nations
resolutions. Hussein was taken into U.S. custody on April 12, 2006 from the Iraqi city of Ramadi
and has since been held without charge. On November 20, 2007, the US military announced that they would soon be bringing criminal charges against Hussein, and would be turning the case over to Iraqi judges. On April 9, 2008 an Iraqi judicial panel ordered his release, ruling (according to the AP) that he was covered by an Iraqi amnesty law. On April 14, 2008 the US military announced it would release Hussein from custody by April 16, 2008, saying only that "he no longer presents an imperative threat to security".
, Hussein's family left, but he stayed behind, "able to photograph not only the results of the attacks on Fallujah, [but] also able to photograph members of the insurgency on occasion," according to Lyon. After fleeing, he arrived in Baghdad
, sans camera, (which the AP replaced) and then went Ramadi since early 2005.
Jack Gardner, "He has close relationships with persons known to be responsible for kidnappings, smuggling, improvised explosive device (IED) attacks and other attacks on coalition forces." Gardner alleged, "The information available establishes that he has relationships with insurgents and is afforded access to insurgent activities outside the normal scope afforded to journalists conducting legitimate activities." Despite these claims, the U.S. military released Hussein on April 14, 2008, saying that they no longer considered him an "imperative threat."
According to his Iraqi lawyer, Badie Arief Izzat, Hussein is innocent, and believes he is being targeted by the U.S. military due to the politically sensitive nature of photographs he has taken.
, AP president and chief executive claimed "Bilal Hussein has been held in violation of Iraqi law and in disregard to the Geneva Conventions
. He must be charged under the Iraqi system or released immediately." The AP has contacted military leaders in Iraq and The Pentagon
, and later the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad
, to try to get more information about the allegations and to have the case transferred to the Iraqi criminal justice system. According to Curley, the Associated Press had been working quietly until now, but since the US military showed no sign of changing their stance, they considered it best to make the imprisonment public.
After hearing of the charges, Curley said "We have grave concerns that his rights under the law continue to be ignored and even abused...The steps the U.S. military is now taking continue to deny Bilal his right to due process...represents a miscarriage of the very justice and rule of law that the United States is claiming to help Iraq achieve...At this point, we believe the correct recourse is the immediate release of Bilal.” AP attorney Dave Tomlin
has commented that “This is not due process, not anything like due process."
Kathleen Carroll, AP's executive editor, argued that simply because Hussein was found with insurgents, he isn't necessarily one of them. "Journalists have always had relationships with people that others might find unsavory," she said. "We're not in this to choose sides, we're to report what's going on from all sides."
Other AP executives said that their review of Hussein's work did not find anything to indicate inappropriate contact with insurgents, and any evidence against him should be brought to the Iraqi criminal justice system. Out of the 420 of Hussein's photographs that the AP reviewed, Lyon said that only 37 photos show insurgents or people who could be insurgents; "The vast majority of the 420 images show the aftermath or the results of the conflict - blown up houses, wounded people, dead people, street scenes."
AP executives also claim the military has not provided any concrete evidence to back up the vague allegations they have raised about him. AP International Editor John Daniszewski said that the AP was told that Hussein was involved with the kidnapping of two Arab journalists in Ramadi, but the AP tracked down the journalists, who said that Hussein in fact had helped them after they were released by their captors without money or a vehicle. The two journalists said that they had never been contacted by multinational forces for their account. Scott Horton
, a lawyer in New York hired by the AP to work on Hussein's case, said that the military has also provided contradictory accounts of whether Hussein himself was targeted or simply caught up in a broader sweep.
When Hussein was freed, the AP denied he had any "improper contacts" and said "he was just doing his job."
-based Committee to Protect Journalists
said it has documented seven cases in 2005, like Hussein, of Iraqi journalists detained by US forces without charge since the start of the 2003 invasion of Iraq
.
Hussein has been also a target for conservative critics on the Internet, who raised questions about his images months before he was detained. One blogger, Michelle Malkin
, wrote about him on the day of his arrest, citing an anonymous military source in Iraq.
from the Committee to Protect Journalists
. The award is given for journalists who show courage in defending press freedom in the face of attacks, threats or imprisonment.
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
photojournalist based in Fallujah
Fallujah
Fallujah is a city in the Iraqi province of Al Anbar, located roughly west of Baghdad on the Euphrates. Fallujah dates from Babylonian times and was host to important Jewish academies for many centuries....
, Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
who had been detained by U.S. forces, suspected of aiding insurgents in Iraq
Iraqi insurgency
The Iraqi Resistance is composed of a diverse mix of militias, foreign fighters, all-Iraqi units or mixtures opposing the United States-led multinational force in Iraq and the post-2003 Iraqi government...
. He was handed over to face charges in the Iraqi Central Court, reportedly over the circumstances of his photos supplied by the U.S. military. American and Iraqi governments were criticized for violating the Geneva Conventions
Geneva Conventions
The Geneva Conventions comprise four treaties, and three additional protocols, that establish the standards of international law for the humanitarian treatment of the victims of war...
, and for detaining Hussein without any evidence. He was finally released without charge in 2008.
One of his photographs was part of a package of 20 Associated Press photographs that won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography
Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography
The Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography, has been awarded since 2000. Before 1968, there was only one photography category, the Pulitzer Prize for Photography, which was divided into the Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography and feature categories...
. His was an image of four insurgents in Fallujah firing a mortar and small arms during the U.S.-led offensive in the city in November 2004.
On September 17, 2006, it was reported that Hussein has been imprisoned by the United States military since April 2006 without publicly known charges or hearings; his captors citing "imperative reasons of security" under United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
resolutions. Hussein was taken into U.S. custody on April 12, 2006 from the Iraqi city of Ramadi
Ramadi
Ramadi is a city in central Iraq, about west of Baghdad. It is the capital of Al Anbar Governorate.-History:Ramadi is located in a fertile, irrigated, alluvial plain.The Ottoman Empire founded Ramadi in 1869...
and has since been held without charge. On November 20, 2007, the US military announced that they would soon be bringing criminal charges against Hussein, and would be turning the case over to Iraqi judges. On April 9, 2008 an Iraqi judicial panel ordered his release, ruling (according to the AP) that he was covered by an Iraqi amnesty law. On April 14, 2008 the US military announced it would release Hussein from custody by April 16, 2008, saying only that "he no longer presents an imperative threat to security".
Background
Hussein was a shopkeeper who sold cell phones and computers in Fallujah, when he was hired by the AP as a general helper because of his local knowledge, in what is described as a typical path for locally hired staff in the middle of a conflict. According to Santiago Lyon, AP's director of photography, in 2004, as the situation in Fallujah worsened, Hussein was given training in photography and camera equipment and hired in September 2004 as a freelancer, paid on a per-picture basis. During Operation Phantom FuryOperation Phantom Fury
The Second Battle of Fallujah was a joint U.S., Iraqi, and British offensive in November and December 2004, considered the highest point of conflict in Fallujah during the Iraq War. It was led by the U.S...
, Hussein's family left, but he stayed behind, "able to photograph not only the results of the attacks on Fallujah, [but] also able to photograph members of the insurgency on occasion," according to Lyon. After fleeing, he arrived in Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
, sans camera, (which the AP replaced) and then went Ramadi since early 2005.
Allegations
According to the U.S. Military (none of whose allegations have been upheld in any court), Hussein was arrested in April 2006, when bomb parts and insurgent propaganda were allegedly found in his house in Ramadi after the U.S. military asked to use it as an observation post during an operation. The military claimed that Hussein was found with two insurgents, including Hamid Hamad Motib, an alleged leader of al-Qaida terrorists in Iraq. According to a May 7, 2006 e-mail from U.S. Army Major GeneralGeneral
A general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....
Jack Gardner, "He has close relationships with persons known to be responsible for kidnappings, smuggling, improvised explosive device (IED) attacks and other attacks on coalition forces." Gardner alleged, "The information available establishes that he has relationships with insurgents and is afforded access to insurgent activities outside the normal scope afforded to journalists conducting legitimate activities." Despite these claims, the U.S. military released Hussein on April 14, 2008, saying that they no longer considered him an "imperative threat."
According to his Iraqi lawyer, Badie Arief Izzat, Hussein is innocent, and believes he is being targeted by the U.S. military due to the politically sensitive nature of photographs he has taken.
Associated Press response
Tom CurleyTom Curley
Thomas "Tom" Curley is the President of the Associated Press, the world's largest news organization.-Biography:Curley was born in Easton, Pennsylvania. At age 15, he started writing for the Easton Express...
, AP president and chief executive claimed "Bilal Hussein has been held in violation of Iraqi law and in disregard to the Geneva Conventions
Geneva Conventions
The Geneva Conventions comprise four treaties, and three additional protocols, that establish the standards of international law for the humanitarian treatment of the victims of war...
. He must be charged under the Iraqi system or released immediately." The AP has contacted military leaders in Iraq and The Pentagon
The Pentagon
The Pentagon is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, located in Arlington County, Virginia. As a symbol of the U.S. military, "the Pentagon" is often used metonymically to refer to the Department of Defense rather than the building itself.Designed by the American architect...
, and later the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad
Zalmay Khalilzad
Zalmay Mamozy Khalilzad is a counselor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and president of Khalilzad Associates, an international business consulting firm based in Washington, DC. He was the United States Ambassador to the United Nations under President George W. Bush...
, to try to get more information about the allegations and to have the case transferred to the Iraqi criminal justice system. According to Curley, the Associated Press had been working quietly until now, but since the US military showed no sign of changing their stance, they considered it best to make the imprisonment public.
After hearing of the charges, Curley said "We have grave concerns that his rights under the law continue to be ignored and even abused...The steps the U.S. military is now taking continue to deny Bilal his right to due process...represents a miscarriage of the very justice and rule of law that the United States is claiming to help Iraq achieve...At this point, we believe the correct recourse is the immediate release of Bilal.” AP attorney Dave Tomlin
Dave Tomlin
David Allen Tomlin is an American professional baseball coach and manager. During his playing career in Major League Baseball, he was a relief pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds , San Diego Padres , Montreal Expos and Pittsburgh Pirates .He helped the Reds to win the 1972 National League...
has commented that “This is not due process, not anything like due process."
Kathleen Carroll, AP's executive editor, argued that simply because Hussein was found with insurgents, he isn't necessarily one of them. "Journalists have always had relationships with people that others might find unsavory," she said. "We're not in this to choose sides, we're to report what's going on from all sides."
Other AP executives said that their review of Hussein's work did not find anything to indicate inappropriate contact with insurgents, and any evidence against him should be brought to the Iraqi criminal justice system. Out of the 420 of Hussein's photographs that the AP reviewed, Lyon said that only 37 photos show insurgents or people who could be insurgents; "The vast majority of the 420 images show the aftermath or the results of the conflict - blown up houses, wounded people, dead people, street scenes."
AP executives also claim the military has not provided any concrete evidence to back up the vague allegations they have raised about him. AP International Editor John Daniszewski said that the AP was told that Hussein was involved with the kidnapping of two Arab journalists in Ramadi, but the AP tracked down the journalists, who said that Hussein in fact had helped them after they were released by their captors without money or a vehicle. The two journalists said that they had never been contacted by multinational forces for their account. Scott Horton
Scott Horton (lawyer)
Scott Horton is a New York attorney known for his work in human rights law and the law of armed conflict, as well as emerging markets and international law. He graduated Texas Law School in Austin with a JD and was a partner in a large New York law firm, Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler...
, a lawyer in New York hired by the AP to work on Hussein's case, said that the military has also provided contradictory accounts of whether Hussein himself was targeted or simply caught up in a broader sweep.
When Hussein was freed, the AP denied he had any "improper contacts" and said "he was just doing his job."
Other responses
The New YorkNew York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
-based Committee to Protect Journalists
Committee to Protect Journalists
The Committee to Protect Journalists is an independent nonprofit organisation based in New York City that promotes press freedom and defends the rights of journalists.-History:A group of U.S...
said it has documented seven cases in 2005, like Hussein, of Iraqi journalists detained by US forces without charge since the start of the 2003 invasion of Iraq
2003 invasion of Iraq
The 2003 invasion of Iraq , was the start of the conflict known as the Iraq War, or Operation Iraqi Freedom, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq and toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein in 21 days of major combat operations...
.
Hussein has been also a target for conservative critics on the Internet, who raised questions about his images months before he was detained. One blogger, Michelle Malkin
Michelle Malkin
Michelle Malkin is an American conservative blogger, political commentator, and author. Her weekly syndicated column appears in a number of newspapers and websites. She is a Fox News Channel contributor and has been a guest on MSNBC, C-SPAN, and national radio programs...
, wrote about him on the day of his arrest, citing an anonymous military source in Iraq.
Ending of legal proceedings
On April 7, 2008 an Iraqi court found that Bilal Hussein's case fell under an existing amnesty regulation and directed the prosecutor to "cease legal proceedings" and directed his "immediate" release unless other charges were pending. A Pentagon spokesman said that he would be released would be made by "officials" in Iraq, "based upon their assessment as to whether he remains a threat." On April 14, 2008 the US military announced that they no longer considered Hussein an "imperative threat." He was released on April 16, 2008Award
In 2008, he won an International Press Freedom AwardCPJ International Press Freedom Awards
The CPJ International Press Freedom Awards honour journalists around the world who show courage in defending press freedom in the face of attacks, threats or imprisonment. Created in 1991, the awards are administered by the Committee to Protect Journalists....
from the Committee to Protect Journalists
Committee to Protect Journalists
The Committee to Protect Journalists is an independent nonprofit organisation based in New York City that promotes press freedom and defends the rights of journalists.-History:A group of U.S...
. The award is given for journalists who show courage in defending press freedom in the face of attacks, threats or imprisonment.