Media freedoms violations during June 2008Escalation of media freedoms violations during June in OPT
The most serious one was the attempt to assassinate Al-Sawaf
One year has passed since the “massacre" committed against the Palestinian Media in June 2007, as was described by the Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (Mada), due to unprecedented volume of violations in terms of quantity and quality, which occurred in that month, after Hamas took control of Gaza Strip.
Generally, the violations by the Palestinian side have declined significantly during June 2008, as a result of the call by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for national dialogue, and the initiative of the Aqsa media network belonging to Hamas, and general supervisor of the official media Nemir Hammad, to halt mutual media campaigns in the media outlets belonging to them. However, some serious developments occurred: there was an attempted assassination of “Felesteen" newspaper chief editor Mustafa Al-Sawaf in Gaza City by an unknown assailant, Wafa agency in Ramallah was threatened, and journalist Mahmoud Al-Hems was attacked in Gaza.
As well, Israel escalated violations of media freedoms in the West Bank, which included numerous arrests and acts of abuse. In separate incidents, journalist Mohammed Al-Qieq, and the local Ramatan News Agency crew (Fuad Frroukh, Rami Hajahjeh, Nobl Nabeel, Mohammed Marbua"), were all arrested, while journalist Mohamed Halaiqa was sentenced to one year imprisonment and a fine. Photographer Mousa Al-Sha"er was attached and his camera was smashed. Al-Rua"h (Shepherds) local TV director Hamdi Farraj, and four of its workers (Jalal Hmaid, Murad Faraj, Muhammed Abu Judah, Nader Musleh), were all detained. Photographer Ahmed Mizher t had his studio"s glass front wall was smashed and his wife was beaten, while Reuters photographer Mohammed Abu Ghanieh had the widows of his car smashed. Mada also records the detention and assault of journalist Mohammed Al-Mughier, in addition to the questioning of journalist Mustafa Sabri.
Mada is expressing satisfaction over the significant decline in violations of media freedoms by the Palestinian side, and the release of journalist Mohamed Athbeh on June 21, after 44 days arrest, by the Palestinian intelligence services.
Mada strongly condemns the assassination attempt of Al-Sawaf, which aimed to silence him, and also condemns the escalation of attacks on journalists by the Israeli occupation forces.
Mada expressed surprise and regret over the Palestinian public prosecutor"s decision to appeal the decision of the magistrate"s court in Hebron city, in which the judge acquitted journalists Osaid Amarneh and A"laa Titi on April 24 of the charges leveled against them (harming the national unity and the state prestige, by broadcasting false and exaggerated news), the appeal will be held in June.
Mada:
• Emphasizes the need to return to the previous state of the media, prior to June 14, 2006, including to allow all media outlets to work freely in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and compensate the media whose headquarters were sabotaged, and whose equipment was confiscated or destroyed.
• Demands the release of journalists detained in Israeli jails.
• Demands the prosecution of those responsible for the assassination attempt on Al-Sawaf, and all those responsible for attacks on journalists, and to bring them to justice.
Details of the violations:
(June 3) – France Press photographer Mahmoud Al-Hems was attacked by Palestinian police in Gaza City. Al-Hams said a police officer pushed him with other Palestinian, who were awaiting the arrival of dismissed Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, to a school building in Gaza city, then a verbal argument accured between al-Homs and the police officer.
(June 4) – Freelance journalist Mohammed Al-Qeiq was arrested at the container checkpoint near Bethlehem, by Israeli occupation forces, while he was heading from Hebron city to Ramallah city, to meet his fiancée. He was traveling with Legislative Council member Samirah Halaiqa. Hulaiqa said their car was stopped at the container checkpoint at around 11 am and the soldiers asked for their identity cards. They returned after a short time and asked Al-Qeiq to leave the car and to come with them, they detained him in a room at the checkpoint, then let the car pass after an hour, while Al-Qeiq was arrested.
(June 5) - Freelance journalist Mustafa Sabri was summoned to meet Israeli intelligence, who contacted him by telephone, and introduced himself as the officer responsible for Qalqilya area. Sabri said when he went to the headquarters of Qalqily Northern Crossing city; most questions addressed to him were general ones about the situation in Qalqilya, where the officer asked him why calm does not prevail in the area? He responded “I am a journalist, and who decides on this matter is “big bosses" in the Palestinian and Israeli sides." The questioning lasted about an hour and a half.
(June 11) – Aqsa TV cameraman Mohammed Ezzat Al-Halaiqa was sentenced to one year imprisonment, a fine of four thousand shekels (about $1200), and six months suspension sentence, by the Israeli military court in Ofer. His father said that the charge against his son mainly related to his work with Aqsa TV as a cameraman, as they considered his coverage of the Al-Tahrir party in Hebron city on November 27, 2007 as evidence for their claim, and as a sign of his continuing activity with Hamas movement. Israeli forces arrested Hulaiqa on 12 December 12.
(June 12) - Palestinian News and Information Agency (Wafa), was threatened by an unknown person, through a telephone call to its headquarters in Ramallah city, who claimed that he belonged to Hamas. He called on Wafa to stop news dissemination about Hamas practices in the Gaza Strip until next Saturday (June 14), and added, according to statement by Wafa on the same day, “You know that Hamas is capable of implementing its threat." Hamas denied responsibility for that threat in a statement.
(June 14) - France Press photographer Mousa Al-Sha"er was beaten and his camera was damaged. Photographer Ahmed Mizher t studio"s glass front wall was smashed and his wife was beaten, because she refused to close the studio when they ordered her to do so. Reuter"s photographer Mohammed Abu Ghanieh"s car window was smashed. Al-Rua"h (Shepherds) local TV director Hamdi Farraj, and four of its workers (Jalal Hmaid, Murad Faraj, Muhammed Abu Judah, Nader Musleh) were detained about two hours during the occupation forces" raid of Dawha town near Bethlehem city and the siege of a building in pretext of searching for wanted person.
(June 19) – Chief Editor of “Felesteen" daily newspaper Mustafa Al-Sawaf survived an assassination attempt by an unknown person in Gaza city. Al-Sawaf confirmed that one bullet was shot at him from an unknown person from the opposite building when he was sitting in his office in the newspaper headquarters in Gaza city, and the bullet broke the window glass, and passed a few centimeters away from him. He refused to accuse any person or group, who might be responsible for the failed attempt to assassinate him. It is noteworthy to mention that Al-Sawaf received a threatening SMS message to kill him on August 31, 2007.
(June 22) - Ramatan News Agency crew, composed of montage technician Fuad Frroukh, cameraman Rami Hajahjeh, sound engineer Nobl Nabeel and broadcast engineer Mohammad Marbua", were detained by the Israeli occupation forces. The soldiers had stopped the crew at Za"tara checkpoint during their travel from Ramallah to Nablus, where they were detained from 9.30 am until about three pm. The soldiers received an order to stop the car before it reached them, whose descr iption was given to them, on the pretext that one of the crew threw a stone in a settler"s direction. About three pm the Israeli police came and arrested the four crew members and transferred them to the Benjamin investigation center, located in Beit Eil military camp near Ramallah. They brought the settler, who claimed that Frroukh is the one who threw the stone towards him. About 11.30 pm Nabeel and Marbua" were released, while Frroukh and Hajahjeh remained in detention. Hajahjeh was released in June 29.
(June 26) - Mohammed Omar Mughier (24 years old) was detained at the Allenby Bridge, for about four hours by the Israeli occupation forces, during his return to the Palestinian territories after a tour in several European countries. He had received the Martha Gellhorn Journalism prize in 2008 in London, UK. He won the first place for a news story published in the “Washington Report on Middle East Affairs". Mughier said that he was investigated from 9:40 am until about 2 pm by Israeli intelligence, who forced him to strip. They beat him especially on his chest and neck, even one of them put his foot on his neck, which led to his injuries, including various bruises to his body especially in the ribs. In addition they directed insults and ridiculed him in an attempt to humiliate him. As a result of all that he fainted and fell on the ground, lost consciousness and vomited a lot. Then they dragged him on the ground several meters, and then he was released. He was transferred to the Jericho Hospital for treatment, and from there he contacted the Netherlands representative"s office who organized his trip to Europe. They transferred him to the Gaza Strip, and from there he went home to the Rafah refugee camp. Due to lasting pain, exhaustion and fatigue, two days later he was transferred to the European hospital in Rafah city
