(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has protested the expulsion of journalist Mashhur Abu Eid. “This journalist was only doing his job. This new expulsion is inadmissible. It is yet another example of the way journalists are being hampered in their work since the launch of ‘Operation Rampart’ by Israel on 29 May. It is also fresh evidence […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has protested the expulsion of journalist Mashhur Abu Eid. “This journalist was only doing his job. This new expulsion is inadmissible. It is yet another example of the way journalists are being hampered in their work since the launch of ‘Operation Rampart’ by Israel on 29 May. It is also fresh evidence of the Israeli army’s policy of discrimination against the Arab press in the occupied territories,” RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard stated in his letter to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. The organisation called on the Israeli authorities to permit Eid to perform his journalistic work freely and securely. RSF also recalled that on 6 April 2002, American journalist Jassem al-Azzawi, from Abu Dhabi Television, was also expelled from Israel.
Eid, a correspondent for the official Jordanian news agency Petra, was arrested on 31 May. Four days later, the journalist was driven to the border in a prisoner bus with his legs tied. The Petra news agency has not given any explanation for his expulsion.
On 31 May, Eid was arrested along with seven peace activists in the Balata Palestinian refugee camp, near Nablus. The city was declared a closed military zone at the time of the Israeli incursion. Eid arrived in Israel on 27 May with the necessary press accreditation. He first went to Nablus and then to Jenin on 30 May before going to the Balata camp. He wanted to film a gathering of Western peace activists who had come to inquire into the human rights situation inside Palestinian refugee camps.
Eid was accused of failing to respect a closed military area and resisting arrest. He was successively detained in the Houwara Military Camp and in the Ariel Military Camp, near Salfit. On 2 June, the journalist refused to sign his deportation order and, along with the seven peace activists, asked to be allowed to appeal to the Supreme Court, to seek the annulment of his deportation order. The Jordanian foreign minister and Petra news agency negotiated with the Israeli authorities in order to secure his release.
RSF also wishes to draw attention to the fact that five Palestinian journalists, Maher al-Dessouki of Al Quds Educational TV, Kamel Ali Jbeil of the daily “Al Quds”, Agence France-Presse photographer Hussam Abu Alan, Reuters sound engineer Yousri El Jamal and Ayman El Kawasmi, director of the local radio station El Horriya, are still being held by the Israeli authorities. The five Palestinian journalists were taken into “administrative detention” on 22 May, on suspicion of having been involved in terrorist activities (see IFEX alerts of 24 and 6 May, 26 and 25 April 2002). In the absence of any evidence put forward to support these allegations, RSF calls on the prime minister to release them without delay.
