Reporters Without Borders calls for release of three Palestinian journalists

Reporters Without Borders called today on Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to free three Palestinian journalists, one of whom is ill. "These journalists were just doing their job, according to our information, and we want an explanation of why they were arrested," Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Robert Ménard said in a letter to Sharon. The three are Maher Hussein Romanneh, a presenter on Voice of Palestine radio, Jalal Hameid, of the privately-owned Bethlehem TV station Al-Rouah and Hussam Abu Alan, an Agence France-Presse (AFP) photographer."We are especially concerned about Romanneh's health and we ask that he be taken to hospital as soon as possible," Ménard wrote. Since the start of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian towns and cities on 29 March, Reporters Without Borders has counted 17 arrests of Palestinian journalists, some of them have been roughed up and humiliated. After a fact-finding mission to Israel from 5 to 7 April, the organisation said the Israeli army was "deliberately intimidating journalists," especially those from the Palestinian media. Photographer Alan (see photo) was arrested on 24 April at the Beit Anun checkpoint near Hebron. Along with Reuter cameraman Mazen Dana and other journalists, he was going to Bani Naim to cover the funeral of two Palestinians. Soldiers asked the photo-journalists to take off their bulletproof jackets and helmets and to show their IDs. Their mobile phones and other equipment were confiscated. Alan was then blindfolded and handcuffed and taken to a tank. Dana was freed a few hours later. "They taunted, humiliated and threatened me," he told Reporters Without Borders. The army appeared to have handed Alan over to the Israeli secret police, the Shin Beit, for interrogation. An army spokesman told the agency that he had been arrested because he had been in the C zone, an area entirely under Israeli control, and because he had no press card. Alan, who lives in Hebron, has worked for AFP for seven years. Like most Palestinian journalists, he has not been able to get his Israeli press card renewed since the beginning of the year. Ashraf Farraj (chief editor) and Jalal Hameid (journalist) of Al-Rouah were arrested by the Israeli army at the press centre in Bethlehem on 3 April with several other journalists. According to Hamdi Farraj, head of Al-Rouah, the other journalists were freed soon afterwards, but Farraj and Hameid were taken to the Beitunia detention centre, near Ramallah. Ashraf Farraj was released on 24 April but Hameid is still being held. Romanneh was arrested on 30 March in Ramallah and taken to the Ofer centre. RSF learns that he has two broken ribs and that the army has refused to take him to hospital. His family has not been allowed to visit him. Ahmed Assi, an ANN cameraman (see photo), was released on 24 April. He and Atta Iweisat, a photographer working for the Israeli daily paper Yediot Aharanot and the Gamma agency, had been arrested on 2 April as they were with other foreign journalists. They were handcuffed and forced to kneel in the pouring rain before being blindfolded and taken to the Beitunia centre for interrogation. Iweisat was released later in the day.