(RSF/IFEX) -In a letter to Deputy Minister of the Interior Ahmed Said Tamimi, RSF protested the numerous cases of intimidation of journalists in the territories under the Palestinian authority’s control. “There are some subjects that the Palestinian authorities do not wish to have tackled,” said Robert Ménard, the organisation’s secretary-general. “We ask you to act […]
(RSF/IFEX) -In a letter to Deputy Minister of the Interior Ahmed Said Tamimi, RSF protested the numerous cases of intimidation of journalists in the territories under the Palestinian authority’s control. “There are some subjects that the Palestinian authorities do not wish to have tackled,” said Robert Ménard, the organisation’s secretary-general. “We ask you to act in order to stop hindrances to the right to inform, regularly encountered by journalists in the territories under your control,” he added.
On 11 September 2001, some Palestinians expressed their joy, in front of cameras, following the attacks in the United States. Since then, in an effort to avoid shocking public opinion any further, the Palestinian authorities have tried to stop these demonstrations. According to information collected by RSF, that same day, police forces and armed gunmen prevented journalists in Nablus from covering celebrations following the New York and Washington attacks.
Moreover, on 14 September, five journalists were detained by the Palestinian police. They were covering a demonstration at the Nusseirat refugee camp in memory of the perpetrator of the 9 September suicide-bomb attack in Nahariya, Israel. A Reuters photographer and editor, an Associated Press TV (APTV) cameraman, the correspondent for the Abu Dhabi satellite television station and an Agence France-Presse (AFP) photographer were released an hour and a half later, after police confiscated their videotapes and film. During this commemoration, a portrait of Osama bin Laden was held up by young people. Four of the detained journalists were Palestinians and one was Norwegian.
