News agency calls for release of photographer

Associated Press is appealing for the release of one of its photographers who is held by the US forces in Iraq. Bilal Hussein, a regular freelance for AP , has been in custody for more than six months without being charged. Executive Editor Kathleen Carroll has called on news organisations to help win freedom for Hussein, saying: "Here is someone who has brought you pictures, images from a critical part of Iraq, who has now been in US military custody for six and a half months, not charged with a crime, not charged with anything, but told he will be held indefinitely because his pictures are unwelcome." Carroll called on newspaper columnists and editorial writers to focus on his plight. (Via Editor & Publisher)