Intelligence Service personnel detained cameraman Akram Natshe and correspondent Mamdouh Hamamreh without providing an arrest warrant.
(MADA/IFEX) – The Palestinian Intelligence Service raided the Pal Media agency’s headquarters in Hebron city in the West Bank, and arrested Quds TV cameraman Akram Natshe and Hebron and Bethlehem correspondent Mamdouh Hamamreh without providing arrest warrants for either of them. The incident took place on 21 December 2010. The Intelligence Service also confiscated the journalists’ laptops and mobile phones. They said that they had an arrest warrant from the attorney general but they did not show it.
According to Article 11 of the Palestinian Basic Law, the arrest of a citizen without a written court decision is not allowed. In cases where there is a court decision, the police, not the Intelligence Service, are responsible for making the arrest.
The Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) strongly condemns the arrests of Hamamreh and Natshe, and calls for their immediate release. MADA also calls for respect for freedom of expression in Palestine, as is guaranteed in Article 19 of the Palestinian Basic Law and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
