Iraq panel orders release of US-held AP photographer

NEW YORK (Reuters) - An Iraqi judicial committee has ordered the release of an Associated Press photographer held by the U.S. military in Iraq for two years and dismissed terrorism-related accusations against him, the news agency said on Wednesday.

The U.S. military has accused Bilal Hussein, an Iraqi, of working with insurgents in Iraq. He was seized in April 2006 in Ramadi, capital of western Anbar province, and has been imprisoned without charge ever since.

AP reported that a four-judge panel ruled that Hussein's case falls under a new amnesty law and ordered Iraqi courts to "cease legal proceedings." The ruling also said Hussein should be immediately released if no other charges are pending.

In a statement, Associated Press President Tom Curley hailed the decision and demanded that officials "finally do the right thing" and free Bilal Hussein.

AP has repeatedly called for the immediate release of Hussein, who was part of its photo team that won a Pulitzer prize in 2005.

The U.S. military has said Hussein, who began working with AP in 2004, was detained for possessing material used to make roadside bombs, insurgent propaganda and what it described as a surveillance photo of a coalition installation.

In November the Pentagon said Hussein was "a terrorist media operative who infiltrated the AP."

Hussein is just one of several Iraqi journalists who have been held by the U.S. military without being charged. Reuters journalists have also been detained by the U.S. military for months and later released without charges.

The Committee to Protect Journalists said dozens of mostly Iraqi journalists had been detained by the U.S. military during the past four years and that while most were released after short periods, there were at least eight cases of journalists being held for weeks or months without charge or conviction.

"The detention of Bilal Hussein has been a terrible injustice, and we are relieved that his ordeal might finally come to an end after nearly two years behind bars," said Joel Simon, executive director of the New York-based CPJ.

"It is alarming that he has been held this long without being charged and having had only a single day in court. We look forward to his speedy release," he said in a statement.

The group said that worldwide the U.S. military was still holding two other journalists without charge or due process -- an Al-Jazeera cameraman in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba and a journalist for Canada's CTV at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan.

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols, editing by Cynthia Osterman)