Case Against Iraqi Cameraman Dropped

Iraqi prosecutors – citing a lack of evidence - have withdrawn their case against an Iraqi cameraman who had expected to go on trial Wednesday. Abdul Ameer Younis Hussein was working for CBS News when he was taken into custody in April 2005, after being wounded by U.S. soldiers as he videotaped clashes in Mosul, in northern Iraq.

Hussein remains in custody, according to CBS News Senior Vice President Linda Mason, who says he has been taken back to the prison at Abu Ghraib while his attorney, Scott Horton, petitions the court for his immediate release.

Abdul Ameer Younis Hussein's trial was originally set for late March, but an Iraqi judge at that time postponed the proceedings until April 5.

The charges against Hussein were never made public but at one point it was said that he could get life in prison if convicted.

CBS Baghdad Bureau Chief Larry Doyle said he received an e-mail from the U.S. task force at Abu Ghraib saying Hussein "appeared to be instigating a crowd" in Mosul.

At the time of Hussein's arrest, CBS News reported that the U.S. military said the videotape in the journalist's camera led them to suspect he had prior knowledge of attacks on American troops, Doyle said. But more details from the military have been hard to come by, the bureau chief said.

"We've been trying for a year to get information," Doyle said.

Last month, Lt. Col. Barry Johnson, head of the Combined Press Information Center in Baghdad, referred an e-mail request for comment to a spokesman for U.S. detainee operations, who did not immediately respond.

"The court must ensure a fair and open process, and authorities need to substantiate their case," Ann Cooper, executive director the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, said in a statement last month. "So far, the handling of this case has been alarming. It's unacceptable that Hussein was held without charge or due process for so long."

The committee said it documented six other cases in 2005 in which journalists were detained for several weeks or months by U.S. forces in Iraq without charge or the disclosure of supporting evidence.

The committee says all of those detainees were released without being charged.