MADA strongly condemns the raid on the home of correspondent Nufouth Al-Bakri, by a group of civilians who said they were with the Ministry of Information.
(MADA/IFEX) – The Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) strongly condemns a raid on the home of “Alhayat Aljadedah” correspondent Nufouth Al-Bakri, by a group of civilians who said that they were working for the Ministry of Information, in the dismissed government in Gaza, who asked her to get a license for her home as a “press office” or to stop sending news to the daily newspaper “Alhayat Aljadedah”, which is published in Al-Biereh city near Ramallah in the West Bank. The raid took place on the afternoon of 25 April 2010.
Al-Bakri said that civilians, who said that they were with the Ministry of Information, came to her house and asked her to get a press office license for her home. She told them that she works from her home because the newspaper office is closed, and that her home is not a press office. She was told that these instructions came from the Ministry of Information. Al-Bakri added: “I called an official at the Ministry of Information, but he denied that he had sent anyone to my home, as he was on vacation.”
It is worth mentioning that Al-Bakri’s home was raided on 7 March by civilians who said that they were with the Ministry of Information in the dismissed government. MADA demands an end to the harassment against Al-Bakri, and to let her and all journalists work freely without any restrictions.
