LAST month Human Rights Watch (HRW) accused Palestinian authorities of detaining and torturing critical journalists. Two days later the secret police proved the human-rights campaigners right. Plainclothes officers arrested Mohammed Othman, a journalist who has criticised Hamas. He was detained for a day and a half and, he says, beaten, deprived of food and forced into painful positions.
Freedom of speech is enshrined in Palestine’s basic law. However, researchers from HRW found five other journalists and activists who were detained recently in Gaza and the West Bank (which are ruled respectively by the Islamist Hamas and the secular Fatah movements). Most of the detained journalists said they had been tortured. One was threatened by an officer brandishing a gun.
There are few data on such arrests, which both factions deny are politically motivated. Anecdotally, though, many Palestinians say they have increased. Just 20% think they enjoy press freedom, according to a March poll; 66% believe they cannot openly criticise the Palestinian Authority (PA). Even a Facebook post can provoke a visit from the authorities. In May, for example, officers hauled...Continue reading
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