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Israeli Army Tribunal Keeps AFP, Reuters Photographers in Jail
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| Reuters
photographer Salem (R), after he was released from jail by
Israel following six days of detention
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OCCUPIED
JERUSALEM, June 20 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - An Israeli
occupation army court has rejected appeals to release two Palestinian
journalists, employed by AFP and by Reuters, who have been held
without trial for more than two months, their lawyer said Thursday,
June 20.
Mohammad
Burghal said the court, meeting on Tuesday at the Beit El army base
near the
West Bank
city of
Ramallah
, gave no reason for its decision.
The
two journalists are Hossam Abu Alan, 47, a resident of the
West Bank
town of
Hebron
who has worked as an AFP photographer for six years, and 23-year-old
Yusri Al-Jamal, a Reuters cameraman.
Abu
Alan and Reuters cameraman Mazen Dana were arrested on April 24 at the
Beit Einun checkpoint northeast of
Hebron
on their way to cover the funerals of two Palestinians killed by the
Israeli army in nearby Bani Naim.
Dana
was released a few hours later, but Abu Alan kept in custody.
Jamal
was also arrested near
Hebron
, on April 30.
After
repeated protests from AFP, the army said in a May 3 letter that it
suspected Abu Alan of “assisting the terrorist Tanzim
organization,”
Israel
’s term for armed groups linked to Palestinian President Yasser
Arafat’s Fatah.
The
occupation army claimed that Jamal was “directly linked with hostile
terrorist activities that have nothing to do with his position as a
journalist.”
But
in neither case have the authorities provided any evidence to back
their allegations, nor formally charged either man.
The
two men were placed in administrative detention until July 23 and
August 6, respectively. They are being held at the military detention
camp of Ofer, near Ramallah.
Administrative
detention is a holdover from the British rule in
Palestine
and allows the government to hold people for months without charges if
they are deemed to be a threat to national security.
An
unknown number of Palestinians, believed to be in the thousands, have
been placed in administrative detention since
Israel
launched its massive invasion of the
West Bank
on March 29.
On
its website, the Committee to Protect Journalists placed the
West Bank
at the top of its list of the most dangerous places for a journalist
to be.
The
Israeli army “used threats, intimidation, and, in some cases,
potentially lethal force to prevent journalists from covering its
military operations,” CPJ reported.
In
one notorious incident, Israeli troops “fired stun grenades and
rubber bullets at reporters waiting outside the Ramallah compound of
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.”
CPJ
stated that Israeli soldiers have also “fired live rounds at working
reporters, detained several journalists, confiscated film or press
cards from others, ransacked the offices of private West Bank
television and radio stations, and repeatedly attacked the Palestinian
National Authority’s broadcasting facilities in violation of
international humanitarian law.”
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