(WAN/IFEX) – The following is a WAN press release: Paris, 5 Octobre 1999 For immediate release WAN Protests to Israeli, Palestinian Governments The World Association of Newspapers has protested to both the Israeli government and the Palestinian National Authority over their recent actions against journalists. In separate protests, WAN condemned the arrest of journalist Maher […]
(WAN/IFEX) – The following is a WAN press release:
Paris, 5 Octobre 1999
For immediate release
WAN Protests to Israeli, Palestinian Governments
The World Association of Newspapers has protested to both the Israeli
government and the Palestinian National Authority over their recent actions
against journalists.
In separate protests, WAN condemned the arrest of journalist Maher
al-Dessouki by Palestinian Preventive Security Services and the detention of
Lebanese journalist Cosette Elias Ibrahim, who was reportedly abducted from
her family home in Israeli-occupied south Lebanon.
In a letter to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, the Paris-based WAN said
the imprisonment of Mr. al-Dessouki was “a clear breach of his fundamental
right to freedom of expression” and “a grave violation of human rights.” WAN
asked that he be immediately released.
According to reports, Mr. al-Dessouki, a journalist with the independent
Al-Quds Educational TV station, was arrested on 15 September in the West
Bank city of Ramallah and accused of “possessing material inciting against
the Palestinian National Authority.”
The arrest was reportedly in response to a programme hosted by Mr.
al-Dessouki on 12 September, in which Palestinians criticized Mr. Arafat and
the Palestinian National Authority because their family members were not
included in the previous week’s prisoner release by Israel.
The letter from WAN, signed by President Bengt Braun, urged Mr. Arafat “to
do everything in your power to ensure that all journalists in the
Palestinian National Authority are free to carry out their profession free
from intimidation.”
In its letter to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, WAN said the arrest of
Ms. Ibrahim violated international freedom of expression conventions which
Israel had signed. “We respectfully call on you to do everything in your
power to ensure that Ms. Ibrahim is released immediately, and that all
journalists in southern Lebanon are allowed to practice their profession
without interference,” the letter said.
According to reports, Ms. Ibrahim, 25, a student at the Lebanese University
who also works as a free-lance reporter for several Lebanese newspapers, was
seized by Israeli forces at her family’s home in Rumaish. She had been
planning to report on the living conditions of people in occupied south
Lebanon and was taken to Khiam Prison inside the occupied zone.
The reports said she was detained for refusing to “collaborate” with Israeli
forces, and she was accused of having provided information to the Lebanese
army on Israeli military activities in the region.
The Paris-based WAN, the global organisation for the newspaper industry,
defends and promotes press freedom world-wide. It represents 17,000
newspapers; its membership includes 61 national newspaper associations,
individual newspaper executives in 93 countries, 17 news agencies and seven
regional and world-wide press groups.
