With all the fuss about the sailors/marines held in Iran for less than two weeks, and the much needed attention on BBC journalist, Alan Johnston abducted in Gaza a month ago, you might not have heard about Bilal Hussein.
The Associated Press photographer has been held in Iraq at a prison camp by the US – but has not been formally charged and the Pentagon simply asserts he has been detained under authority of U.N. resolutions and in accord with the Geneva Conventions.
He is considered a security threat although no evidence has been produced to support accusations. Hussein is just one of many journalists, primarily Iraqis, who have been detained, but the only one currently held for such a long period.
Photographs taken by Hussein have been published globally and were part of AP’s Pulitzer Prize-winning submission in 2005 – leading to accusations that he has been held because his images were not welcome by the US authorities.
Colleagues and serious news media are championing Hussein’s case – but it clearly hasn’t got the momentum of any British people held by other authorities.
Greenbanana: PR + more 
I’m with you in spirit on this one, Heather – the US is more than culpable in many respects over there. However, on the question of this man, it might be that the US has been condemned automatically, by definition, as it were. How can we really know the ins and outs of it?
You are right James – we cannot know, but when due process doesn’t seem to follow through, it isn’t surprising that questions are raised. The US needs to realise the importance of following through and proving a case since detention without trial seems wrong, whoever is doing it.