http://media.guardian.co.uk/iraqandthemedia/story/0,12823,1557146,00.html



No special treatment for journalists in Iraq, says US


Chris Tryhorn
Friday August 26, 2005


The US military has told journalists working in Iraq they will be given no 
special consideration after Reuters demanded an explanation for the 
continued detention of its cameraman in the country's notorious Abu Ghraib 
prison.
Reuters has been denied access to Ali Omar Abrahem al-Mashhadani since he 
was arrested by US troops at his home in Ramadi on August 8.

Military sources told the news agency Mashhadani was a "security detainee", 
implying suspected links to insurgents, but have refused to give details of 
any suspicions or accusations.

International press freedom groups have spoken out against the arrest, 
pointing out that journalists' work is likely to put them into contact with 
insurgents.

But a spokesman for the US forces in Iraq said they would examine any 
detainee "regardless of what his profession is" and that journalists would 
not get special dispensation.

"What we've got to do is look at the individual that was indeed detained and 
what was he doing, regardless of what his profession is," Major General Rick 
Lynch told a news conference in Baghdad, reported by Reuters.

"The policy doesn't need to change. The policy that's in effect is the one 
that will stay in effect."

Maj Gen Lynch said the US military would look into Mashhadani's case: "We'll 
look very closely at that particular situation. What was he doing that 
caused us to believe he was involved in suspicious activities?

"And then we will continue to work through our process to determine whether 
he should remain in detention, be released or transferred into the court 
system."

Mashhadani is now being held as a "security detainee" in Baghdad's Abu 
Ghraib prison, where he cannot be visited for 60 days.

Reuters' campaign to gain access to the cameraman and to find out why he was 
arrested has been supported by international media rights groups.

"There is an intolerable denial of basic rights here," said Aidan White, the 
general secretary of the International Federation of Journalists. "This man 
is being denied visitors and there is growing concern about his welfare.

"The US authorities should reveal what, if anything, he is charged with or 
free him immediately."

The Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontieres said it had written to the US's 
commander in the Middle East, General John Abizaid, to demand Mashhadani's 
release.

Ann Cooper, executive director of the New York-based Committee to Protect 
Journalists, said: "US officials must credibly explain the basis for the 
detention of Ali Omar Abrahem al-Mashhadani and other journalists being held 
without charge, or release them at once."


		
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