Raleigh attorney represented detained journalist

Hussein was arrested at his Ramadi apartment in April 2006 for suspicious of having ties to terrorists.

Bert Nunley, a Raleigh attorney, was among those who fought for Hussein's release.

“At the end of 2007, I was contacted by some people out of New York City and asked if I'd be willing to help the Associate Press free Bilal Hussein,” Nunley said.

Nunley, who is also a retired Marine colonel, began working with a team of lawyers to free Hussein. He traveled to Baghdad to meet with Hussein.

“To see the smile on his face was worth a lot,” he said of seeing Hussein. "He was just so happy to see someone who had traveled all the way from the U.S. to help him."

After three weeks in the war-torn country, Nunley returned to the U.S., but never stopped working on the case.

"Everything that they (the U.S. government) said Bilal did that would make him a terrorist or a person who was part of the terrorist propaganda over there, had a very plausible and easy explanation," Nunley said.

In April, Hussein was released after never being charged with a crime.  He is currently living in Beirut.