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AP’s Terror Operative Freed but Not Cleared
Apr 18th, 2008 by Bob Owens
From Pajamas Media:
Media outlets are painting the release of AP photographer Bilal Hussein as a triumph of justice. But he was simply freed under the new amnesty law — and he is far from innocent.
By: Bob Owens
Iraqi terrorism suspect and award-winning Associated Press photographer Bilal Hussein was released from U.S. military custody on Wednesday after more than two years in prison. Various news outlets are reporting the release as the triumph of an innocent man, though that journalism community-based supposition is unsupported by known facts.
An amnesty committee reviewing the charges against Hussein judged neither the merits of the case nor his guilt or innocence, but instead looked “exclusively at the categorization of the charges relative to provisions of the Amnesty Law,” according to a U.S. military release. The review came roughly a month after an Iraqi judge determined on March 11, 2008, that the weight of evidence was sufficient to refer his case to trial. Military sources confirm that Hussein was released only because the specific terrorism-related crimes with which he was charged fall inside the parameters of Iraq’s new amnesty laws, not because of a lack of evidence.
Hussein’s release was hardly unique, as he was one of 300 detainees released Wednesday from Camp Cropper and Camp Bucca detention facilities under the new amnesty law.