BAGHDAD - The U.S. military has freed two television cameraman in Iraq - one Reuters and one Associated Press - after holding them without charges.

The Reuters newsman, Ali al-Mashhadani, who also works freelance for the BBC and Washington-based National Public Radio, was detained in Baghdad on July 30 while he was in the 'Green Zone' government compound for routine checks for a U.S. military press card. He was freed after three weeks, on August 21.

Two days later, U.S. forces freed AP cameraman Ahmed Nouri Raziak, 38, after holding him for three months without charge.

U.S. forces have detained Mashhadani twice before, at one point holding him for five months, but no charge has ever been filed against the cameraman, who is based in Ramadi, the capital of western Anbar province.

The U.S. military said at the time of his latest arrest that he was held "because he has been assessed to be a threat to the security of Iraq and coalition forces," but did not elaborate.

Reuters Editor-in-Chief David Schlesinger said: "While I am pleased at Ali al-Mashhadani's release, I am extremely concerned that this was the third time he was detained without explanation.

 "If there are legitimate issues about him or any other journalist, let's have them aired openly and tested. If there are none, let them pursue their profession free from intimidation and fear."

Reuters, the BBC, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists and Iraqi journalist groups had issued calls for the military either to explain the accusations against al-Mashhadani or free him.

The military says that under the U.N. mandate governing the presence of foreign forces in Iraq it can indefinitely detain anyone considered a security risk.

U.S. forces previously detained al-Mashhadani in August 2005 after troops became suspicious of film of the Sunni Arab insurgency then raging in Anbar that they found on his cameras while searching his home in Ramadi. He was freed in January 2006, then detained again for two weeks in mid-2006.

The manner of al-Mashhadani's latest arrest was unusual, as he was inside the heavily-guarded press centre in the fortified Green Zone compound. To get there, he would have had his identity checked and been searched at a series of entry checkpoints.

Two Iraqi journalists who were in the military press office when he was detained said U.S. soldiers suddenly appeared, frisked him and led him away. Two other witnesses said they saw soldiers escorting a handcuffed man with a hood over his head.

U.S. forces have held other Iraqi reporters working for Reuters and journalists from different media groups for long periods without charging them.

In April, the U.S. military freed a Pulitzer Prize-winning Iraqi photographer working for the Associated Press after holding him without charge for two years.

The latest AP cameraman to have been detained, Ahmed Nouri Raziak, was handed over to AP representatives at a U.S. military compound in Baghdad on August 26. He had been detained by U.S. and Iraqi forces at his home in the northern city of Tikrit on June 4.

As in al-Mashhadani's case, the U.S. military said it had believed Raziak posed a threat, but concluded after a review that he did not. It did not elaborate.

"We are glad Ahmed has been released," said Kathleen Carroll, AP's executive editor. "We will be seeking more specific information about why he was picked up and held and about his experience during his incarceration."   
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