Free cameraman or charge him - CPJ

He was detained in Baghdad on 26 July while he was in the Green Zone government compound for routine checks for a US military press card.

“This is the third time US forces have detained Ali al-Mashhadani without charge,” Robert Mahoney, deputy director of the New York-based press rights group said.

“The military has never substantiated any wrongdoing by him. The authorities must make evidence again him public or release him immediately.”

Reuters and the BBC, for whom Mashhadani also works, have urged the US military to release him immediately or produce evidence to justify his detention.

A US military spokesman said he was being held at Camp Cropper, an American prison near Baghdad airport, because he “has been assessed to be a threat to the security of Iraq and coalition forces”.

The spokesman said the case will be reviewed this week.

Mahoney is a former Reuters correspondent and editor. He joined the CPJ in 2005. ■