JURIST - Paper Chase: US military designates Afghan journalist as enemy combatant

[JURIST] An Afghan journalist working as a cameraman for Canadian television network CTV [media website] has been designated as an enemy combatant [JURIST news archive], a US military spokesperson said Wednesday. US officials alleged that Jawed Ahmad [SAJA report; CPJ report] had Taliban phone numbers and videos in his possession [CBC report] when he was detained by coalition forces on October 26 at a NATO airbase in Kandahar, but a US military spokesman declined to provide details of the evidence against Ahmad. Ahmad is now being detained at the Bagram Air Base [official website]. AP has more.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) [advocacy website] has called on US authorities to disclose the evidence and charges against Ahmad [CPJ report]. US military forces have previously detained without charge journalists working in Iraq and Afghanistan. In December 2006, the Committee to Protect Journalists released a report [text; JURIST report] in which it noted that the US was detaining three journalists, including Al Jazeera cameraman Sami al-Haj [advocacy website; JURIST report] and AP photographer Bilal Hussein [AP materials].

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