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CBS Cameraman Acquitted In Iraq

An Iraqi cameraman working for CBS News was acquitted Wednesday of insurgent activity, a year after being wounded and detained by the U.S. military after a car bombing.

A three-judge Iraqi panel ruled there was insufficient evidence against Abdul Ameer Younis Hussein, who was filming the bombing aftermath in the northern city of Mosul when he was apprehended.

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.

Hussein, 25, was returned to Abu Ghraib prison pending final U.S. military approval of his release. A U.S. spokesman Lt. Col. Kevin Curry said he expected Hussein to be released by Thursday.

"I am so happy," said Hussein's brother, Mohammed Younis Hussein, who traveled from Mosul for the trial. "I have cried a lot these months, but now I feel I can rest. It's incredible."


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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.

The defendant, who wore a yellow jumpsuit, was not permitted to speak to reporters. Between appearances on the witness stand, he had to kneel on the floor in the back of the courtroom, facing a wall — highly unusual in an Iraqi court.

A half dozen American soldiers in full body armor stood nearby, guarding him and other Iraqi defendants in other cases, who also faced the wall.

The U.S. military "fully supports and stands by each of the court's decisions," said Curry, who highlighted the autonomy of Iraqi courts. He also pointed out, however, that the evidence had been deemed sufficient by the investigative judge who recommended the case be tried.

"Justice was served in the proceedings today," said Scott Horton, an American lawyer who flew in from New York to counsel Hussein and assist his Iraqi lawyers.

Horton said the U.S. military claimed Hussein had prior knowledge of the car bombing and celebrated with other Iraqis in the aftermath, chanting "God is great!"

But prosecutors acknowledged that there was not enough evidence and moved to drop the case.

In testimony to the panel, Hussein said he was filming a celebration at a university in Mosul in April 2005 when he heard a car bomb explode. He said he called a colleague at a French news agency to find out more about the location, then raced to the site in a taxi.

He encountered American troops surrounding the area and waited until they cleared to go in and film, he said. After getting some footage, he said he heard people start yelling there were snipers in the area and he felt a shot.


"They shot me in the hip," he said of the American troops. "I tried to stand up, but I couldn't."

After five minutes, troops arrived and took him to the hospital.

"All the time they were cursing me, and calling me a terrorist," he said. "I kept saying, 'I'm not a terrorist. I'm a correspondent."'

The U.S. military alleged that Hussein was standing near a man waving a gun and inciting the crowd after the bombing — a man that troops killed at the site. Hussein denied that he was with anyone who had a gun.

Mohammed Younis Hussein, who flashed smiles with his younger brother after the verdict was issued, said he was not happy with American troops and their presence in Iraq.

"It was as if the Americans were trying to frame him, to cover up the truth, the fact that they shot a CBS News cameraman, a journalist who was doing his job," said the 30-year-old. "They're making a lot of mistakes. It would be better for them to leave."

The elder brother also said Hussein was mistreated at Abu Ghraib, being placed in solitary confinement, deprived of sleep with interrogations after 2 a.m., and at times forced to face the wall in his cell.

It was difficult for the family to visit Hussein, he said, because the road from Mosul to Baghdad is so dangerous. His cell phone started ringing off the hook after the ruling as he relayed the news to Hussein's parents and eight other siblings.

He said the family planned to take Hussein out of the country for awhile to relax and "so he won't have to see a single American soldier in the street."

Reporters Without Borders in Paris said Hussein was the fourth journalist released by the U.S. military in Iraq this year and no other journalists are known to be held by American forces there at this time.

Horton said journalists have increasingly become targets in Iraq.

As the lawyer spoke to reporters in a parking lot from the courthouse, Iraqi security forces began firing shots in the air, demanding cameramen stop filming. Within seconds they were pointing guns at the reporters, forcing everyone to retreat.

"This shows the reckless indifference to the safety of journalists I've been talking about," Horton said later, adding that courthouse officials had told him interviews could be conducted in the parking lot.

Cameramen were temporarily detained as security forces tried, unsuccessfully, to confiscate their tapes.

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