U.S. insists AP photographer a 'security threat'

"Any accusation against a journalist should be backed up by concrete and clear evidence, but Bilal was detained for a very long time without seeing such evidence," Rahim said. "Such practices should be stopped."

The head of the news department at the independent Al-Sumariya television station said the case shows that rules and procedures must be established to protect journalists.

"We and Bilal are paying the price of the absence of effective, real regulations to protect the journalists in Iraq, and this encourages U.S. forces and the government to harass the journalists," Nabil Jassim said. "Such acts might be meant to intimidate the journalists whose job is to make good contacts in order to convey the truth to the world."

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists also expressed deep concern about the case, noting the military has made shifting accusations against Hussein and "has yet to produce evidence of criminal wrongdoing."

CPJ's Mideast program coordinator Joel Campagna said dozens of journalists have been detained by the U.S. military since the war began in March 2003 — most held for a few hours or days.

There have been eight cases of "long-term open-ended detentions" of journalists in Iraq and "in all of those cases, with the exception of Bilal Hussein, the journalists have been released without any charges being substantiated against them," Campagna said.

"Our call throughout has been, if he has committed a recognizable criminal offense then he should be charged, given due process, and given a fair and transparent trial," he said.

Campagna called Hussein's case a troubling example to the rest of the region where the U.S. has said it would like to support democracy and the rule of law.

"Governments are increasingly using these detentions as a way to justify their own repression of their media," he said.

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