MADA Center condemns the arrest of Palestinian journalist Alaa Al-Rimawi by Israeli forces and calls for holding perpetrators of continued attacks on media freedom accountable.
This statement was originally published on madacenter.org on 21 April 2021.
The Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) condemns the continued pursuit of operations by the Israeli occupation forces against Palestinian journalists, especially at such significant times in which Palestinians look forward to a new era in the political arena. While the Palestinian political leaders are appealing to the international community to place pressure on Israel to cooperate for the success of the elections and for Jerusalem to be included, the Israeli government is ‘answering’ these demands with the arrest of Palestinian journalists.
As part of its systematic targeting of Palestinian journalists, on Wednesday 21 April 2021, an Israeli occupation army force arrested the journalist Alaa Hassan Jamil Al-Rimawi (43 years), the director of J-Media network and the coordinator and correspondent of Al-Jazeera Live channel, from his home in Ramallah at dawn.
As reported by his wife Dr. Maymoona Hussein Al-Din Al-Khatib, a large force of the occupation army surrounded their house in the city of Ramallah at dawn today, Wednesday, between 2:30 and 3:00am, while 12 soldiers entered the house, and brought the family into the living room after they confirmed Alaa’s identity. They stayed with Alaa in the bedroom and asked him to prepare some items that he might need during the arrest.
The soldiers left the house with Alaa after about a quarter of an hour without searching him. As he was being taken, Alaa announced that he would go on hunger strike. Until this moment no one knows his whereabouts.
MADA Center, while renewing its condemnation of all prosecutions targeting journalists, and the attacks targeting media freedoms in Palestine, calls on the international community to put pressure on the government of Israel to contribute to the success of the coming elections, to stop its violations against media freedom and the prosecution of journalists in order to allow them to practice their important role in providing adequate information to citizens during the elections. Also, it recalls the obligation of Israel to respect freedom of opinion and expression guaranteed by all international covenants and norms, and also to oblige it to deal with Palestinian journalists within this framework in this sensitive stage of the life of the Palestinian people and leadership.
MADA also calls for holding the perpetrators of attacks on media freedom accountable, and renews its call for the release of all detainees in Israeli prisons, especially journalist detainees, the most recent being the journalist, Bushra al-Tawil.
