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US forces free AP cameraman in Iraq

(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-08-24 09:35

BAGHDAD -- US forces freed a cameraman for the Associated Press in Baghdad on Saturday after holding him for three months without charge, the news agency said.

Ahmed Nouri Raziak, 38, was handed over to representatives of the Associated Press at a US military compound in Baghdad. He had been detained by US and Iraqi forces at his home in the northern city of Tikrit on June 4, the agency said in a report from Baghdad.

Raziak's release comes two days after the military freed an Iraqi cameraman for Reuters, Ali al-Mashhadani, who was held for three weeks without charge after being arrested while renewing his credentials at a US military press office.

As in Mashhadani's case, the US military said it believed Raziak posed a threat, but concluded after a review that he did not. It did not elaborate.

"We are glad Ahmed has been released," said Kathleen Carroll, AP's executive editor, according to the agency's report. "We will be seeking more specific information about why he was picked up and held and about his experience during his incarceration."

Last month, AP said it had been told by the military that Raziak would be held for at least six months. It said the military gave no explanation for the reversal.

The US military say the U.N. mandate authorising its presence in Iraq allows it to hold anyone it deems a threat indefinitely. US forces are now holding about 21,000 Iraqis without charge.

In April the US military freed Bilal Hussein, a Pulitzer Prize-winning Iraqi AP photographer who had been held for just over two years.