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American releases 500 detainees including journalists { January 17 2006 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)    http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/american-military-releases-500-iraq-detainees/2006/01/16/1137260002253.html http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/american-military-releases-500-iraq-detainees/2006/01/16/1137260002253.html American military releases 500 Iraq detainees By Jim Krane, Dubai January 17, 2006 THE US military has released about 500 prisoners cleared of ties to Iraq's insurgency, including a pair of journalists who had been held in Iraqi prisons for months, US military officials said. Majed Hameed, an Iraqi reporter for the Dubai-based al-Arabiya network and the Reuters news agency, was released after four months in US custody, US Army Brigadier-General Mark Kimmitt said during a visit to al-Arabiya's headquarters yesterday. Ali al-Mashhadani, a photographer and cameraman for Reuters, was also freed in the mass release of 500 prisoners from Abu Ghraib prison west of Baghdad. He had been jailed since August. General Kimmitt was greeted in Dubai by protesters carrying placards decrying the US military's arrest of Mr Hameed and other reporters. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said US troops detained Mr Hameed on September 15 in Iraq's insurgent haven of Anbar province, and Mr Mashhadani had been held since being taken on August 8 by US Marines who raided his home. An al-Arabiya reporter, Jawad Kazem, handed General Kimmitt a petition signed by Dubai-based reporters asking the US military to release another two journalists still held in Iraq. Mr Kazem sat in a wheelchair after being paralysed in a violent kidnapping attempt in Baghdad. "Why was he arrested? Why wasn't he afforded his legal rights?" Mr Kazem said of Mr Hameed. General Kimmitt said US forces respect the rights of a free press to operate in Iraq, but Mr Hameed could not be released until US and Iraqi authorities were certain he was not a security threat. Reuters and al-Arabiya have said Mr Hameed's arrest appeared to be connected to footage found on his camera by US troops. US officials did not give an official explanation for his detention. Two other reporters, cameramen Abdul Ameer Hussein and Samir Mohammed Noor, remain imprisoned by the US military in Iraq, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. ¦Al-Qaeda in Iraq, led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and other militant groups have set up an umbrella body to co-ordinate their fight against US-led forces and the Iraqi Government, according to a statement posted on the web. The Mujahideen Council aims to confront the "crusaders and their rejectionist (Shiite) and secularist followers who have seized Baghdad". The statement's authenticity could not be verified. It was posted on a website often used by insurgents. AP, REUTERS

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