A US military spokesman told Reuters that Hafidh al-Beshara, news editor and manager of political programming of the al-Furat television station was detained because he may have “key information on Iranian-sponsored criminal activity”.
Reuters reported 26 February that the senior journalist from one of Iraq’s biggest television stations would be questioned in the next 48-72 hours.
An earlier Associated Press report suggested that was arrested during a raid targeting his son.
The military said in an earlier statement that Beshara’s son was a suspected intelligence operative for Iranian-backed cells and had helped in attacks on U.S. and Iraqi forces.
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