Ramallah – 14 November 2011: Israeli occupation forces this morning arrested radio Marah presenter Raed Rateb Al-Sherif from his home in Hebron city, West Bank.

In a statement, Raed’s father Rateb Al-Sherif told MADA that a unit of Israeli occupation soldiers arrived at his home at 1:30 am and ordered everyone to evacuate the house, including the children. Soldiers questioned Al-Sherif about his son’s whereabouts and he informed them that Raed lives in another house. Soldiers ordered Al-Sherif escort them to his son’s home where they knocked firmly on the door, when Raed answered they arrested him. 

Al-Sherif added: "I told them to knock gently on the door as my son's wife is pregnant, but they told me to keep quiet and carried on knocking loudly.  My son’s wife is now in the hospital and there is a possibility that she will miscarry. Until now we still don’t know where my son is being held.”

The Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) strongly condemns the arrest of journalist Raed Al-Sherif which constitutes a clear breach of international law. MADA calls upon concerned international bodies to exercise real pressure on occupation authorities and demand his immediate release.