Pattern of detention of journalists in Iraq

Reuters reports that the US military rejected the growing concern about the detention of Iraqi journalists working for major news agencies and organizations. The military refused to recognized the special nature of their work in reporting conflict as a common factor for confusion and their detention.

One Reuters cameraman has been held incommunicado for nearly two months, and is currently in detention in Abu Ghraib.


Ali Omar Abrahem al-Mashhadani, a 36-year-old freelance cameraman and photographer with Reuters, detained

The highest-profile detention of a filmmaker in Iraq involved Cyrus Kar, an Iranian-American documentarist, who was detained for months until threats by his family to sue the US government facilitated his swift release. His Iranian cameraman was not so lucky, and was released long after Kar.

CBS and Agence France Presse journalists were detained for many months as well.

Mashhadani, 36, has worked for Reuters for a year as a freelance television cameraman and photographer in Ramadi, west of Baghdad. U.S. officials say he can have no visitors, including his family or a lawyer, for 60 days.

Reuters has provided U.S. forces with footage by Mashhadani that shows scenes of conflict and gunmen operating in plain view of civilians. Nothing in his work has indicated activity incompatible with his status as an independent journalist.

"U.S. and Iraqi military forces routinely detain Iraqi journalists without charge or explanation, and some have been held for months," the CPJ [Committee to Protect Journalists] said.