El ejército USA "ha hecho lo posible para que no haya justicia" con el fotógrafo prisionero Bilal Hussein

según el presidente de Associated Press


Fotógrafo de la agencia Associated Press, encarcelado por el ejército norteamericano en Iraq desde el 12 de abril del 2006.

Marzo 2008. AP president and CEO Tom Curley said this week that "neither he nor his attorneys have been allowed to examine documents or cross examine witnesses during Bilal's trial." "Bilal's captors have done their best to see that there won't be justice," Curley said during a National Press Club dinner in Washington Tuesday.

Sadly, Curley's remarks prove that this trial is nothing more than a scheme to keep Bilal behind bars and the journalism community gagged. We condemn one more time this fake trial and we demand Bilal immediate release.

Spread the word about Bilal. Sign the online petition at www.freebilal.org

Bellow is the main passage about Bilal case in Curley's speech:

"So the damaging fallout from Bilal's case is far more serious than the detention of one more Iraqi. It is a public display of disrespect for the rule of law – disrespect before a people to whom we pledge to deliver the fruits of freedom and justice for all.

Bilal spent 19 months in prison without any due process worthy of the name before his case finally was referred to the Iraqi criminal courts. And even now, six months further along, Bilal has yet to see the evidence against him. Neither he nor his attorneys have been allowed to examine documents or cross examine witnesses. In fact, Bilal has not even been told the charges against him.

The military has never offered evidence of crime that would survive careful scrutiny by an impartial court. Whether there will be any such scrutiny remains in doubt. Bilal's captors have done their best – in large ways and small – to see that there won't be justice – either the kind the U.S. constitution supposedly guarantees or that provided by the U.N. charter.

This case has never been about Bilal Hussein. It is a clash between the people and their access to information. The military took some time to interpret the lessons of Vietnam and develop policies to counter outcomes it deemed not in its best interests. We in the press have taken too long to learn the lessons of Iraq. "

We highly recommend to read the full text at http://www.ap.org/pages/about/whatsnew/documents/March182008tomcurleysunshineweekspeech.pdf

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