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<h1 id="reader-title">Addameer Condemns Crackdown by Occupation
Forces on Media and News Agencies</h1>
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<p class="rtejustify"><span
class="date-display-single">15
March 2016<br>
</span></p>
<p class="rtejustify"><span
class="date-display-single"></span>Addameer
Prisoner Support and Human
Rights Association condemns
the arrest and detention of
more than seven Palestinian
journalists since the
beginning of this year as well
as the recent storming and
closure of Palestine Today
office in Ramallah. The
occupation, therefore,
continues to target and arrest
human rights defenders,
particularly journalists, in
order to repress and silence
Palestinians from presenting
the brutal reality of the
Israeli occupation. </p>
<p class="rtejustify">On Friday,
11/03/2016, the Israeli
occupation forces raided and
closed down the office of
Palestine Today channel and
the company “Trans-Media",
which provides technical
services for the channel. The
occupation forces confiscated
their equipment, destroyed
their contents, and arrested
the director of the channel,
Farouk Elayan, journalist and
photographer Mohammed Amr, and
technicians broadcaster Shabib
Shabib. Mohammed Amr and
Shabib Shabib were later
released after interrogation.
Additionally, correspondent
Ibrahim Jaradat was arrested
on 03/13/2016 at a flying
military checkpoint near Bir
Nabala.</p>
<p class="rtejustify">The
occupying power has also
forced the French satellite
"YOTEL Sat" to stop satellite
broadcast for Al-Aqsa channel
because of their purported
role in propagating
incitement. A number of
Palestinian journalists have
received threats from
anonymous people, who claimed
to be "Israeli security
forces" and they were told
that they are under
surveillance. </p>
<p class="rtejustify">According
to Addameer’s statistics, the
Israeli forces arrested seven
Palestinian journalists since
the beginning of this year.
Five of them remain in
custody: Samer Abu Aisha,
Mujahid al-Saadi, Sami
Al-Saai, Farouk Elayan and
Ibrahim Jaradat. Currently,
22 Palestinian journalists
remain in Israeli prisons in
total. The longest serving
journalist with a life
sentence, Mahmoud Issa, was
working as a reporter for Sawt
Al-Haq Wal Hurriya before his
arrest in 1993.</p>
<p class="rtejustify">Israel has
adopted a policy of arrest,
detention, intimidation,
threats and, at times,
collective punishment against
human rights defenders in
order to repress and discredit
them and their efforts for
reflecting the crimes
committed by the occupation
against Palestinians. The UN
Declaration on Human Rights
Defenders defines human rights
defenders as individuals who
play an important role in
furthering the cause of human
rights through activities such
as the documentation of
violations, providing support
and assistance to victims
seeking remedies, combating
cultures of impunity and
mainstreaming human rights
culture and information on an
international and domestic
level. Human Rights Defenders
in the occupied Palestinian
territory face various types
of harassment and rights
violations by the occupation
forces, irrespective of the
protection afforded to them in
international conventions, and
particularly the Declaration
on the Right and
Responsibility of Individuals,
Groups and Organs of Society
to Promote and Protect
Universally Recognized Human
Rights and Fundamental
Freedoms.</p>
<p class="rtejustify">Addameer
holds that these punitive
measures taken by the
occupation forces against
Palestinian journalists and
human rights defenders are in
contravention with
international humanitarian
law, which aim to deter
Palestinian human rights
defenders, intimidate them,
and push them to give up their
rights to free speech and
expression. The arrest of
journalists is a crime that
gravely contravenes the
Universal Declaration of Human
Rights and the Universal
Declaration on the Protection
of Human Rights Defenders. As
such, Addameer demands
condemnation by the
international community
against the campaign of mass
arrest against Palestinian
journalists, and for the
protection of human rights
defenders.</p>
<p class="rtejustify">Addameer
calls on the United Nations to
put an end to the crimes of
the occupation, which include
the closure of Palestinian
media and human rights
organizations and arrests of
their staff members, and to
provide protection of
Palestinian civilians in
accordance with International
Humanitarian Law and
International Human Rights
Law.</p>
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