(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Vice-Minister of the Interior Ahmed Saïd Tamimi, RSF protested the arbitrary detention of Abdullah Issa, Gaza correspondent for the London-based Arabic-language daily “Asharq Al-Awsat”. Robert Ménard, RSF’s secretary-general, asked the vice-minister “to use all his influence to free the journalist and to do everything possible to ensure that that […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Vice-Minister of the Interior Ahmed Saïd Tamimi, RSF protested the arbitrary detention of Abdullah Issa, Gaza correspondent for the London-based Arabic-language daily “Asharq Al-Awsat”. Robert Ménard, RSF’s secretary-general, asked the vice-minister “to use all his influence to free the journalist and to do everything possible to ensure that that the Palestinian press law is respected.” This press law, signed in 1995 by Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, stipulates that the intelligence services do not have the right to interrogate, detain or arrest a Palestinian journalist who is exercising his duties. The organisation also noted that in 1999, “some ten Palestinian journalists were subject to questioning or threats on the part of the Palestinian Authority police services.”
According to information obtained by RSF, Palestinian intelligence service officers arrested Abdullah Issa on 17 April 2000 at his home. Since then, he has been detained without charge. This arrest is due to a series of articles which were unfavourable to the Palestinian Authority. Notably, the journalist carried out an interview with Palestinian Minister of Solidarity Intesar Al Wazir in which Al Wazir called into question Arafat’s authority. This interview was published in April in “Asharq Al-Awsat”. According to El Kessouani, the journalist’s wife, Issa began a hunger strike on 10 May to protest his arrest. She also maintains that for the last ten days her husband has been unable to receive visitors.
