Ramallah – October 4th, 2024. The Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) condemns the arrest of Al Jazeera correspondent Laith Jaar by the Palestinian police this morning, Friday. It also condemns the physical assault and incitement campaign against him that occurred last night, Thursday, in front of Thabet Thabet Governmental Hospital in Tulkarm while he was performing his work and covering the massacre that took place yesterday in Tulkarm camp.
According to the field follow-up of MADA Center, journalist Laith Jaar (27 years old) was subjected to an incitement campaign after a group of channels and platforms affiliated with the Palestinian Authority and Fatah movement on Telegram and a number of other social media sites published incitement news and rumors against him and accused him of colluding with the occupation. This was followed by an attack on him by a security officer named Ahmed Ghassan Quzah, who beat him and directed verbal insults at him, and threatened to shoot him, while he was performing his media work and covering the massacre committed by the occupation forces in Tulkarm camp last night, Thursday.
On Friday morning, journalist Laith went to Tulkarm Military Intelligence Center to file a complaint against Ahmed Quzah who assaulted him. While he was at the center, the Palestinian police entered the center and arrested the journalist because there was an official complaint against him. He was released unconditionally after hours of detention, according to the follow-up of the legal advisor of the MADA Center.
MADA Center condemns the arbitrary arrest of journalist Jaar, and the blatant assault and incitement against him, in light of the harsh circumstances that the Palestinian people are going through. It views with great concern the complex and dangerous attacks that targeted the Al Jazeera correspondent within a few hours, including the incitement, due to its extreme danger to the journalist’s life first, and an even greater danger to Palestinian security and civil peace second.
MADA Center renews its demand to stop the prosecution of journalists by the Palestinian security services on the basis of their media work, so that their suffering does not worsen from all sides. Previously, the correspondent of the "Sanad" agency, journalist Ahmed Al-Bitawi, was arrested for 15 days last September. We also demand that official and human rights institutions assume their responsibilities towards the political arrest of journalists.
MADA Center salutes all journalists who continue to perform their work and insist on completing their media mission in exposing Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people despite all the dangers surrounding their media environment, which have become a direct threat to their lives.
