U.S. Military Detains Al-Jazeera Reporter

AP ^ | September 10, 2003

[Shermy]

BADHGAD, Iraq - The U.S. military said early Thursday that it had detained an Al-Jazeera reporter, saying she had broken its "ground rules."

A military spokesman in Baghdad said he had no other details on the Wednesday arrest nor on what ground rules were broken by the reporter for the Qatar-based Arabic satellite channel. The U.S. military was not known to have issued any such rules.

Al-Jazeera reported that Baghdad correspondent, Atwar Bahjat, was detained while she was covering explosions in Baghad that went off while she was in the area. There were no other immediate details of the blasts.

Al-Jazeera said Bahjat phoned her office and said that she was being interrogated but that no charges had been brought against her. It said she was then transported to Baghdad Airport.

An al-Jazeera correspondent in Spain was detained by Spanish authorities in Madrid Friday while police investigate allegations he is linked to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network.

Tayssir Alouni, 48, who interviewed bin Laden a month after the Sept. 11 attacks, was arrested at his home in southern Spain. He was questioned for nearly three hours at a closed-door hearing in Madrid on Monday, court officials said. He was then ordered held for 72 more hours while police investigated. The order expires Thursday afternoon.

Court officials said police needed more time to investigate paper and electronic documents that were seized when Alouni was arrested.

On Monday, Jihad Ballout, an Al-Jazeera spokesman, said Alouni's continued detention was "shocking." He said the television network is doing all it could to clear Alouni's name.

[Shermy]

On Monday, Jihad Ballout, an Al-Jazeera spokesman

Name worthy of a joke.

[livius]

Hope they get the one in Spain (al Louni). He's the one known to have had direct contacts with Osama.

I bet our action is based on things learned from al Louni.

[Thud]

ping re Babbin

[prairiebreeze]

ping to another errant Al Jazeera reporter....

Prairie

[Two Thirds Vote Aye]

Tell her...Either give us the exact location of UBL, or if not, it's off your your head. What poetic justice it would be for UBL to get his "72 virgins" on the anniversary of his 9/11., or to wake up to a BIG surprise.

[faithincowboys]

it seems very likely to me that Black September types are working for Al Jazeera under the guise of reporters. The "Ukranian Al Jazeera cameraman" was, by my lights, a sniper working with a press pass. I'm glad he got killed by our brave, American soldiers.

[swarthyguy]

Descendants?

[At _War_With_Liberals]

[Kenny Bunk]

Jihad Ballout

This is no joke Shermy. It refers to an obscure sura in q'uran (note politically correct sp)

"If a rocket propelled grenade is fired at infidels who are engaged in golf, and does not clear the ladies' tee, a true Muslim shall be required to fire the next 18 with his Jihad ball out."

[Grampa Dave]

Is that his left or right one?

[Kenny Bunk]

I consulted an Imam with whom I play, and he was a little fuzzy on that. He in turn is consulting a very learned ayatollah, who he hopes will give us a pointer on it.

Our last round was a bit disappointing to him. Just as he was about to hit his drive, he slipped on some Shiite. He then blew an easy putt for par. He had the sheiks. The worst thing is the time it takes to go a round. Every time he gets in the sand, he pitches a tent and makes coffee.

[mikegi]

Al-Jazeera reported that Baghdad correspondent, Atwar Bahjat, was detained while she was covering explosions in Baghad that went off while she was in the area. There were no other immediate details of the blasts.

Sounds so innocent, "that went off while she was in the area". Yeah right, she was waiting where the terrorists had set up an ambush for our troops. That's why our guys arrested her.

[Grampa Dave]

Sounds like another good reason not to play golf.