Posted on 05/26/2002 3:53:42 AM PDT by knighthawk
By Ha'aretz Staff, Anat Cygielman, Ha'aretz Correspondent, and agencies
IDF troops arrested a Reuters photographer in the Gaza Strip last Wednesday, for what military sources said were his links to terror activities.
Suhaib Jadallah Salem, 22, who was intercepted while traveling to Rafiah, at the southern end of the Strip, was in possession of a hand grenade when he was seized, military sources said.
Salem, who was driving in a vehicle belonging to the international news agency, was heading for Egypt to board a flight to the soccer World Cup, being held in Japan and South Korea, where he was to have joined the team of Reuters photographers covering the event.
The driver of the vehicle and at least one other passenger were also arrested, according to eye-witnesses.
Reuters' editor-in-chief, Geert Linnebank, has demanded that Israel release Salem or publish the reasons for his detention. Linnebank said it was "unacceptable" for a journalist "doing their duty" to be held without being charged and without being given access to a lawyer.
Salem is the second Palestinian journalist working for Reuters to be detained in recent weeks. Another photographer, Jussry al-Jamal, 23, was arrested at the end of April during the IDF's massive incursion into the West Bank. He was detained in the West Bank city of Hebron.
In a letter sent last Thursday to Reuters, Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein asserted that Jamal had been "directly connected to terror activities, which had no connection to his work as a journalist."
The International Press Institute (IPI), a media watchdog organization, has also strenuously protested Salem's detention. In a letter sent last Friday to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, IPI director Johann Pritz writes that the organization "strongly condemns the detention without charges" of the Reuters photographer.
The letter also refers to five other journalists - all Palestinians - who are still being detained without trial in Israeli jails. These include al-Jamal (Reuters), Hussam Abu Alan (AFP), Jalal Ehmad (Al-Roa television station), Maher al-Dessouki (Al Quds Educational TV), and Kamel Jbeil (Al Quds newspaper).
IPI charges that the detentions are "yet another attempt by [Sharon's] government to restrict the free flow of information through the intimidation and suppression of the media. No less than 75 percent of all 220 press freedom violations recorded by IPI during the first 19 months of the Palestinian uprising were perpetrated by Israeli authorities," the letter states.
If people want on or off this list, please let me know.
No, I would say the IDF is not afraid to jail what they know are terrorists - so called journalists or not. Wouldn't it be WONDERFUL if we could do the same in the U.S.A.????? Just think, all the socialists, anti-American media IN JAIL!
Freedom, Wealth, and Peace,
Francis W. Porretto
Visit the Palace Of Reason: http://palaceofreason.com
Neither do I. When are we going to start doing the same thing here? Dan Rather comes to mind, but we can expand into the House and Senate from there.
Arrest her and send her back to Canada without her Fake Glasses...she is so BOGUS!!!
Thanks for that wonderful thought!! LOL
But ... I'm glad to see this happen. Maybe it will give a few of them a clue - they are not the be all end all of the world.
Check the archives. That story was later proven to be false. The people involved said it didn't happen that way.
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