US forces release al-Arabiya's Fallujah correspondent

The pan-Arab TV news station al-Arabiya today reported the release of its correspondent in Fallujah, Abdel Kader Al-Saadi, who had been held by US troops for 11 days. Marines arrested Al-Saadi and other civilians who had gathered inside a mosque on 11 November, the fourth day of the US offensive against Fallujah. He was wearing a jacket with the word "Press" in English and Arabic at the time of his arrest, Al-Arabiya said. In a phone call to Al-Arabiya that was broadcast live, Al-Saadi described the circumstances of his arrest and detention along with "2,000 to 2,500" other Iraqis: "They put us in actual cages, made of barbed wire in front, sandbags at the back and on either side, and a sheet of wood overhead. It was horrible because of the cold and the fact we were not given enough blankets." He said he was interrogated like the other detainees. Their place of detention "was what used to be called Camp Tarek or the People's Mujahideen base," he added, referring to an Iranian armed opposition group. -------------------------------- 17.11.2004 Reporters Without Borders calls on US forces to free Al-Arabiya correspondent in Falluja Reporters Without Borders has called on US forces in Falluja to release the correspondent for Al-Arabiya satellite television, Abdel Kader Al-Saadi, whom they arrested in the town on 11 November. "We call for the immediate release of Abdel Kader Al-Saadi who has been held for six days," said the worldwide press free organisation in a 17 November letter to Lt. Gen. John F. Sattler, first expeditionary corps marine commander in Falluja. "The American authorities must at least justify the reasons for his prolonged detention," said the letter. The journalist, who is originally from Falluja, remained in the town to cover the fighting for his TV station and gave himself up to US forces along with numerous civilians living in Falluja. Al-Arabiya announced on 16 November that the US army had arrested its correspondent in Falluja. The US forces confirmed they were holding him and told the station that he would be released "as quickly as possible". Editor Nabil Khatib told Reporters Without Borders that he was "very worried for the safety of Al-Saadi. We are impatiently waiting for the American forces to release him, all the more so since we have already suffered heavy losses in Iraq. Eight of our employees have died since March 2003, three of them journalists killed by the American army." According to Al-Arabiya, their correspondent was arrested on 11 November "with a large number of other citizens" who obeyed military orders to civilians to gather in Falluja's mosques. Al-Saadi was carrying proof that he was a journalist. Al-Saadi covered the fighting between Islamist insurgents and US and Iraqi forces until 11 November, on which date the TV station lost all contact with him. Reporter Ali Al-Khatib and cameraman Ali Abdel Aziz of Al-Arabiya were killed on 18 March 2004 by US shooting at a check-point as they covered the aftermath of a rocket attack on a Baghdad hotel. On 29 March, the American army accepted responsibility for their deaths, saying the shooting was "accidental". Al-Arabiya journalist Mazen Al-Tomaizi was killed by missiles fired from an American helicopter while providing live coverage of an attack on a Bradley tank in the streets of Baghdad.