Bilal Hussein

Bilal Hussein is an Iraqi Associated Press photojournalist based in Fallujah, Iraq. He was arrested in Ramadi by U.S. forces in April 2006 and detained on suspicion of aiding insurgents in Iraq. He was taken into custody to face charges in the Iraqi Central Court, reportedly over the circumstances of his photos, which were supplied by the U.S. military. American and Iraqi governments were criticized for violating the Geneva Conventions, and for detaining Hussein without evidence. He was finally released without charge in 2008. That year, Hussein won an International Press Freedom Award.

One of his photographs was among a group of 20 Associated Press photographs that won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography. His was an image of four insurgents in Fallujah firing a mortar and small arms during the U.S.-led offensive in the city in November 2004.

On September 17, 2006, the AP reported that Hussein had been imprisoned by the United States military since April 2006 without publicly known charges or hearings; his captors citing "imperative reasons of security" under United Nations resolutions. Hussein was taken into U.S. custody on April 12, 2006 in Ramadi, Iraq, and had since been held without charge. On November 20, 2007, the US military announced that they would soon be bringing criminal charges against Hussein, and would be turning the case over to Iraqi judges. On April 9, 2008 an Iraqi judicial panel ordered Hussein's release, ruling (according to the AP) that he was covered by an Iraqi amnesty law. On April 14, 2008 the US military announced it would release Hussein from custody by April 16 of that year, saying only that "he no longer presents an imperative threat to security".

Hussein is an Iraqi citizen and shopkeeper who in 2003 was living with his family in Fallujah, where he sold cell phones and computers. During the Iraq War, the Associated Press (AP) hired him as a general helper because of his local knowledge, in what is described as a typical path for locally hired staff in the middle of a conflict. According to Santiago Lyon, AP's director of photography, in 2004, as the situation in Fallujah worsened, Hussein was given training in photography and camera equipment. He was hired by AP in September 2004 as a freelancer, paid on a per-picture basis. During Operation Phantom Fury, Hussein's family left, but he stayed behind. He photographed "not only the results of the attacks on Fallujah, [but] also ... members of the insurgency on occasion," according to Lyon.

...
Wikipedia