The United States military released Reuters photographer Ibrahim Jassam Mohammed on Wednesday after detaining him at Camp Cropper in Iraq for 17 months without charge.

“We welcome the decision to release Jassam,” said IPI Director David Dadge. “However, we remain concerned by the fact that the US military felt it acceptable to hold him for 17 months in the absence of any charges against him. Furthermore, this case reveals the disturbing vacuum that exists between US military law and sovereign Iraqi law and it makes a mockery of the principle of habeas corpus.”

The Iraqi photojournalist, who worked for Reuters and other news agencies as a freelancer, was seized from his home in Mahmudiya in September 2008.

In November 2008, the Iraqi Central Criminal Court ruled that there was no case against Jassam, but the US military continued to hold him, asserting that he was a “security threat” because of his alleged “activities with insurgents.”

Jassam is one of a number of Iraqi journalists detained without charge, for varying lengths of time, by U.S. forces since the start of the Iraq war in 2003. On the anniversary of Jassam’s arrest last year, IPI noted that the military’s treatment of journalists was “a slap in the face to the US government’s stated belief in press freedom, as well as its long-cherished belief in due process.”

The freeing of Jassam comes a day before IPI releases its World Press Freedom Review 2009 – Focus on the Middle East. The report welcomes the fact that fewer journalists were killed in Iraq in 2009 than in previous years, but expressed concern at continuing threats to media freedom.

The Review’s Iraq report notes that a draft “Journalists Protection Law,” published by the government on 31 July, caused concern among journalists and local and international press freedom groups: “On the one hand, the law provides certain protections and state benefits to journalists; however, other elements of the law appear to constitute an attempt to restrict the rights of journalists. The law prohibits publication of material that could compromise “security and stability,” and offers inadequate protection of a journalist’s right to keep sources confidential, and against arbitrary detention and seizure of equipment.”

As Iraq prepares for parliamentary elections in March, the media are increasingly concerned about government efforts to restrict their freedom. Earlier this year, the Iraqi Communications and Media Commission issued a set of rules for the media. Media houses must register, provide lists of staff and equipment and refrain from “inciting sectarian violence.” The new regulations have been criticized for exposing journalists to groups that target foreign media organizations, and because the vaguely worded prohibition on inciting violence could be used to clamp down on legitimate criticism of the government and free speech.