Bilal Hussein, an Iraqi photographer with Associated Press (AP) who spent more than two years in US military custody in Iraq on suspicion of being a security threat, was awarded a journalism prize by a Spanish foundation on 22 May.

The Barcelona-based Miguel Gil Moreno Foundation said the prize was given in recognition of Hussein's photographs and for all the work done by local reporters in Iraq. The award is named after Miguel Gil Moreno, a Spanish cameraman killed in 2000 while covering the Sierra Leone conflict for AP Television News. The award was created in 2002 by Spanish colleagues of Gil, in collaboration with his family, and is given each year to a war correspondent.

Hussein, a 36-year-old Iraqi photographer, was unable to attend the ceremony but sent a video message expressing his appreciation.

The prize includes a bronze sculpture and a cash award. Hussein was released on 16 April when American military police handed him over to AP colleagues, two years and four days after he was detained by US Marines in the city of Ramadi, 70 miles west of the capital. The release came after two Iraqi judicial amnesty committees had ruled that there would be no trial on any of the accusations against him. The US military said it no longer deemed Hussein a threat. Hussein denies US military accusations that he had improper contacts with Iraqi insurgents in the areas where he was living. He says he was doing the normal work of a photographer in a war zone. His detention drew strong protests from international news media, rights groups and press freedom advocates worldwide.

Source : AP via European Journalism Centre