Iraqi Panel Orders U.S. To Release AP Photographer

[Purveyor]

Source: Reuters

Apr 13, 2008 14:29 EST

BAGHDAD, April 13 (Reuters) - An Iraqi judicial panel dismissed the last remaining criminal allegation against an Associated Press photographer on Sunday and ordered him freed from U.S. military custody, the news agency reported.

The U.S. military has accused Bilal Hussein, an Iraqi, of working with insurgents in Iraq and held him without charge for two years. The Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer was seized in Ramadi, capital of Anbar province, and is being held in Baghdad.

On Thursday, the U.S. military said it would not free Hussein unless its own review board approved, after the Iraqi panel dismissed separate terrorism-related accusations against Hussein early last week and ordered him released.

The AP said the panel of three judges and a prosecutor of the Iraqi Federal Appeals Court granted amnesty on Sunday to Hussein, 36, saying there should be no further action on allegations he might have had improper contact with insurgents who killed an Italian in Iraq.

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The panel ordered a "halt to all legal proceedings" and said Hussein should be "released immediately" unless he is wanted in connection with something else, the agency added.



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