11 May 1998

Alert

Journalist detained


Incident details

Abbas Moumani

journalist(s)

detained


(CPJ/IFEX) - In the early afternoon of 5 May 1998, two agents from
Palestinian General Intelligence (GI) visited Abbas Moumani's office in
Ramallah and summoned him to GI headquarters for questioning. Since that
time, Moumani, a Palestinian freelance photojournalist from the West Bank,
has been held without charge. According to unconfirmed reports, he was
transferred to a detention facility in Jericho on 7 May. A stringer for
Reuters, Moumani was previously detained and interrogated for several hours
in mid-April after the news agency had distributed and broadcast video
footage of a masked man who identified himself as Adel Awadallah, a leading
Hamas activist. In the video, the man implicated Palestinian security
officials in the death of Hamas figure Muhyideen al-Sharif, who was found
dead on 29 March 1998 next to an exploded car in Ramallah.




Recommended Action


Send appeals to authorities:
  • expressing concern that Abbas Moumni has been detained for having carried
    out his professional duties as a journalist, in violation of international
    standards for a free press
  • urging them to make the charges against him, if any, public and to see to
    it that his right to due process is maintained
  • calling for his immediate and unconditional release, unless it can be
    shown
    that he is responsible for an offense deemed criminal under international
    standards




    Appeals To



    His Excellency Yasser Arafat
    President
    Palestinian National Authority
    Gaza City, Gaza
    Fax: +972 7 823 744







    Please copy appeals to the source if possible.





    Source:

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    • Updates to this story

    CPJ protests ongoing travel restrictions on Palestinian journalist 22 October 1999 Journalist detained and tortured 13 May 1998

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