Rights group documents violations against Palestinian journalists in the West Bank and Gaza

[News_Editor]

Rights group documents violations against Palestinian journalists in the West Bank and Gaza

2011-04-06 21:14:31 GMT+7 (ICT)

RAMALLAH (BNO NEWS) -- Palestinian journalists in the West Bank and Gaza are being targeted and harassed by Palestinian Authority (PA) and Hamas security forces, Human Rights Watch said Wednesday.

In a new report, presented by Joe Stork, HRW deputy director for Middle East and North Africa, at a press conference in Ramallah, the New York-based organization documents violations against Palestinian journalists during 2009-2010. It presents cases in which security forces tortured, beat, and arbitrarily detained journalists in the West Bank and Gaza.

"Palestinian security forces are becoming notorious for assaulting and intimidating journalists who are just trying to do their jobs," Stork said.

"Both the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza need to end these blatant attacks on free expression."

Violations temporarily spiked during Israel's offensive in Gaza in December 2008 and January 2009, but the situation has continued to worsen. According to the Center for Development and Media Freedoms, the number of violations of journalists' rights by Palestinian security forces increased in both places in 2010 by 45 percent over the previous year.

In total, Palestinian rights groups reported more than 200 allegations of torture by PA security agencies in 2010, up from 164 complaints in 2009. Security officers have been criminally prosecuted for abusing detainees in only one case, and the military court acquitted all five of the accused in July 2010.

In the 35-page report, Human Rights Watch called on the United States and the European Union to condition support for all PA security agencies on concrete accountability measures. The United States provided $350 million to the PA for security and program assistance in 2010, in addition to $150 million in direct budgetary support, while the European Union gave the PA more than €230 million ($315 million), including for security assistance.

Human Rights Watch said abuses by Hamas in Gaza as well as by Israeli military forces throughout the occupied Palestinian territories will be the focus of future reporting.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-04-06

[Steely Dan]

"Palestinian security forces are becoming notorious for assaulting and intimidating journalists who are just trying to do their jobs," Stork said.

"Both the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza need to end these blatant attacks on free expression."

I guess a free press is very inconvenient when trying to cover up breeches of the Geneva convention or paint a propaganda picture which is uncritically lapped up by the liberal left.