Last May has witnessed a continuation of violations against the Palestinian journalists, especially by the Israeli occupation authorities, which included the arrest of journalists Azmi Ash-Shioukhi, Ahmad Jalajil and his assistant, Raed Sarhan, the injury of Abdel-Rahman Khabisah and the closure of a Palestinian media center in Jerusalem.
The Israeli occupation authorities continued to impose house arrest and resumed the trial of the AlalamTelevision correspondent, Khader Shahin, and producer, Mohamed Sarhan, since the fifteenth of last December .
Security forces have arrested cameraman Osaid Amarneh and kept journalists Mustafa Sabri and Murad Abu Al-Baha under arrest since last April, There is information that those journalists were exposed to torture
MADA Center condemns all attacks against journalists by the Israeli occupation forces, and the arrests of journalists by the Palestinian security apparatuses, and it demands the cessation of allattacks against journalists, and the release of the detained ones.
Details of Violations:
(May 1) - General Supervisor of Palestine Media and information Network Azmi Ash-Shiukhi was arrested by the Israeli occupation forces. Ash-Shiikhi said that he was arrested with a number of participants in the weekly march against the apartheid Wall in Al-Mia’sara village south of Bethlehem, and that they were harrased during the arrest as well as after transferring them to the police station in Kfar Etzion. Ash-Shiukhi has been investigated for participating in the march and accused of incitement to organize demonstrations against the construction of the wall and settlements. The day following his arrest, he has been isolated in a solitary cell because of his call for the prisoners on hunger strike in protest against the ill-treatment, food and clothing. Ash-Shiukhi has been brought five times to the trial before Ofer court for charges of inciting for demonstrations. He was released on the thirteenth of May, after being sentenced for one year in prison with a stay of execution, and he was prevented from participating in marches, in addition to financial penalty of twenty thousand shekels (about five thousand dollars).
(May 11) - Palestinian Information Office was closed in the city of Jerusalem, by the Israeli occupation forces. Lawyer, Ahmed Ar-Rwaidi, said that an Israeli security force raided the Ambassador Hotel, at which the Center was established to cover the visit of Pope Benedict XVI and handed him an order from the Israeli Minister of Internal Security to close the Center. The force also confiscated the contents of the Center such as files, papers, and the sign. He indicated that the Hotel’s Hall had been rented for the establishment of the Center, especially in light of preventing the Palestinians journalists from covering the visit of the Pope during his tour in Jerusalem, and to give the opportunity to the personalities and institutions of Jerusalem to express their opinions.
(May 18) – Cameraman Osaid Amarneh was arrested by the Palestinian Preventive Security in Bethlehem. His family said that he had received a notice from the above mentioned force and then he went at ten o’clock where he was arrested and exposed to torture in the first day. The day next, he was transferred to regular rooms in the prison and then his family has visited him. The family had been told by the Preventive security that there are no charges against him, but he was held due to the political situation. Osaid was arrested several times by the security forces and forced to sign a pledge not work for Al-Aqsa television.
(May 29) - Associated Press cameraman Abd Ar-Rahman Khabisa was injured by the Israeli occupation forces in the village of Bil’in west of Ramallah. Khabisa said that he was covering the weekly march against the Apartheid Wall in Bil’in village when the Israeli soldiers fired a gas canister at him which hit him between his legs resulting in the burning of his clothes and a slight burnt at the top of the legs. Later he moved about ten meters away from the location in which he was filming. Ten minutes later the soldiers shot him with a sound grenade that burnt his abdomen; he was transferred to Skiek Zayed hospital in Ramallah for treatment. Khabisa confirmed that the bombs were fired at him by the soldiers deliberately.
(May 29) –Palestine Media and Communications Company cameraman Ahmed Jalajel, and his assistant, Raed Sarhan were arrested by the Israeli police in the city of Jerusalem. Jalajel said that he was filming inside Al-Aqsa Mosque on that day and when departed from Al- Asbat Gate at about one o’clock afternoon, approximately twenty policemen were waiting them. They confiscated the camera and cellular phones, arrest them and transferred them to nearby police station. They have been investigated how they passed the camera into the Mosque. One hour later, they were transferred to another police station in the old city where investigation was resumed on filming inside the Mosque which is prohibited unless by a permission by the police. He told the police, “we interred as journalists and it is our right to film". They have been released at around five o’clock in the evening after signing a financial guarantee of 3000 Shekels (about 750 dollars) and an order preventing them from entering the Mosque for a 15 day period. Moreover, they have been notified not to inter into Al-Aqsa during the period of prevention otherwise they will be arrested,
