The International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists in over 120 countries, calls on U.S. military authorities to abide by an Iraqi judicial panel decision ordering the immediate release of Bilal Hussein.

According to information before IPI, in decisions dated April 9 and April 13, an Iraqi judicial panel dismissed all charges against Bilal Hussein, ordered a halt to all legal proceedings against him, and ordered him released unless he is wanted in connection with other charges.

Hussein, a Pulitzer Prize-winning AP photographer, has been detained since April 2006, when he was arrested by U.S. Marines in the city of Ramadi. He was alleged to have been in possession of bomb-making material, to have conspired with insurgents, and to have maintained contacts with a group if Iraqi kidnappers in 2004. However, the U.S. military did not refer his case to an investigating judge for review of the evidence until December 2007. The judge submitted his findings to the Central Criminal Court of Iraq, which transferred the case to the judicial panel, consisting of three judges and a prosecutor.

The judicial panel dismissed all current charges against Hussein pursuant to the recently-enacted Amnesty Law, which permits a grant of amnesty, effectively closing a case without determinations as to guilt or innocence. U.S. military officials have yet to comment on the panel’s final decision of 13 April. However, U.S. military authorities have in the past insisted that a United Nations Security Council mandate permits them to retain detainees identified as security risks even where an Iraqi judicial body has ordered their release.

IPI Director David Dadge commented: “We welcome the judicial panel’s decision to order the release of Hussein, and join AP President Tom Curley’s call on U.S. military authorities to ‘finally do the right thing’ and free him.”