(CPJ/IFEX) – In the early afternoon of 5 May 1998, two agents from Palestinian General Intelligence (GI) visited Abbas Moumani’s office in Ramallah and summoned him to GI headquarters for questioning. Since that time, Moumani, a Palestinian freelance photojournalist from the West Bank, has been held without charge. According to unconfirmed reports, he was transferred […]
(CPJ/IFEX) – In the early afternoon of 5 May 1998, two agents from
Palestinian General Intelligence (GI) visited Abbas Moumani’s office in
Ramallah and summoned him to GI headquarters for questioning. Since that
time, Moumani, a Palestinian freelance photojournalist from the West Bank,
has been held without charge. According to unconfirmed reports, he was
transferred to a detention facility in Jericho on 7 May. A stringer for
Reuters, Moumani was previously detained and interrogated for several hours
in mid-April after the news agency had distributed and broadcast video
footage of a masked man who identified himself as Adel Awadallah, a leading
Hamas activist. In the video, the man implicated Palestinian security
officials in the death of Hamas figure Muhyideen al-Sharif, who was found
dead on 29 March 1998 next to an exploded car in Ramallah.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to authorities:
out his professional duties as a journalist, in violation of international
standards for a free press
it that his right to due process is maintained
shown
that he is responsible for an offense deemed criminal under international
standards
Appeals To
His Excellency Yasser Arafat
President
Palestinian National Authority
Gaza City, Gaza
Fax: +972 7 823 744
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
