Nasr Abu Alfoul, director of the Palestinian Network for Press and Media and a correspondent for Milad agency, was one of two journalists summoned in Gaza and the West Bank.
(MADA/IFEX) – The Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) condemns the summoning of Nasr Abu Alfoul, director of the Palestinian Network for Press and Media and a correspondent for Milad agency, by the internal security services in Gaza. MADA also condemns the summoning of Quds TV programs coordinator Nawaf Al-Amer by the Palestinian Intelligence service in the city of Nablus in the West Bank. The two incidents occurred on 21 June 2010.
Abu Alfoul said that he was first summoned to the internal security headquarters in the Abu Khadra area in Gaza on 17 June. The investigation was then postponed to 21 June, when he was detained from 8:00 am until 1:00 pm. Abu Alfoul added: “I have been interrogated about my work, and about the news and reports I’m writing. They also confiscated my two computers, my identity and press cards. They released me after I signed a pledge to return on 24 June 2010.”
According to Al-Amer’s wife, officers from the Palestinian Intelligence service came to their house in Kufur Kalel village in Nablus at midnight on 21 June, and gave her husband an order to immediately appear at the intelligence headquarters in Nablus. When Al-Amer complied with the order, he was tied and detained until 3:00 a.m. He was released but asked to return on the morning of 22 June at 9:00 a.m. As of 1:30 p.m. on 22 June he was still detained.
MADA demands that the security services in the West Bank and Gaza stop prosecuting journalists, and that they put an end to all types of violations against them, which is a clear violation of freedom of expression.
