AP photographer in first Iraq court hearing

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - An Iraqi judge convened the first criminal hearing on Sunday against an Associated Press photographer who has been detained by the U.S. military without charges for nearly 20 months, the news agency said.

The U.S. military has accused Bilal Hussein, a 36-year-old Iraqi, of working with insurgents in Iraq. He was seized in April 2006 in Ramadi, capital of western Anbar province.

The award-winning photographer was present for most of the nearly seven-hour, closed-door proceeding in the Central Criminal Court of Iraq, the AP said in a report from Baghdad.

It was the first time Hussein or his lawyers had seen any of the materials gathered by the U.S. military against him since his arrest, the news agency said.

Magistrate Dhia al-Kinani ordered that the proceedings and details of materials presented remain secret, the AP said.

Hussein's lawyer, Paul Gardephe, said no formal charges were lodged. Gardephe was permitted to see some material during the proceeding but was forbidden from taking any copies with him to aid in building his defence, the AP said.

"There is still no formal charge against Bilal, and The Associated Press continues to believe that Bilal Hussein was a photojournalist working in a war zone and that claims that he is involved with insurgent activities are false," AP spokesman Paul Colford said in a statement, according to the report.

"Because the judge ordered that the proceedings today be kept secret, we are restricted from saying anything further."

The agency had said the U.S. military would submit evidence to the Iraqi judiciary on December 9.