Improper security checks at Ben Gurion airport violate press freedom

Reporters Without Borders today denounced improper security checks of journalists at Israel's Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport and called for an enquiry into the seizure and disappearance there of a French reporter's computer. "These security operations amount to harassment of journalists and also violate the confidentiality of journalists' sources," said Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Robert Ménard in a letter to the Israeli authorities. "We demand an enquiry into the confiscation and subsequent disappearance of the laptop computer used by Thierry Oberlé, of the French daily paper Le Figaro, to do his job, and that these checks, while necessary, be conducted with respect for the work of journalists." Oberlé was leaving Israel on the night of 14 August after a reporting assignment there and in the Occupied Territories, when security officials confiscated his laptop computer during pre-flight search and questioning. The computer, which belongs to the newspaper and contained data about work done during his stay, has still not been returned to him. In a 28 August letter to the Government Press Office, Le Figaro protested against the methods and attitude of the airport officials and the disappearance of the computer. After strong protests by the journalist at the time the machine was confiscated, a senior airport security official told him that the computer was being seized "to check its hard drive." As is the practice, officials refused to give the journalist a receipt for the confiscated machine, only an airline "accompanied baggage" receipt. Reporters Without Borders calls on the Israeli authorities to stop subjecting foreign journalists leaving Israel to intimidation and improper searches that violate the right to confidentiality. It also calls for greater openness during security checks and to urgently consider the following recommendations: -During questioning, journalists should be told of their rights (use of a translator, for example, and the right not to answer questions about private matters). -Security checks should not in any circumstances be an excuse to check up on the activities of journalists and get information out of them to help the Israeli authorities. -Once their electronic equipment (a computer or camera) has been proved not dangerous, these journalistic working tools must not be confiscated. -In the case of abuses, journalists must be able to formally complain at once to officials other than the airport security service.