Call for Abbas to issue presidential decree prohibiting detention of journalists for doing their jobs
Headline: "A call for a presidential decision that prohibits the detention of journalists"
"Journalists, human rights and media organisations confirmed the importance of issuing a presidential decision by president Mahmoud Abbas, whereby he prohibits the detention of journalists in relation to their profession . Many incidents where journalists have been detained over various periods without conviction from Palestinian courts prove that the arrest is being used as a punitive procedure against journalists.
The abovementioned is the result of an open meeting which the Palestinian center for Development and Media Freedoms "MADA" organized in cooperation with Arabic Media Internet Network (AMIN) in the network's center in Albireh yesterday.
The meeting discussed the mechanisms to be used in order to protect the journalists, as a result to the general prosecutor's decision to detain the journalist Ihab Aljariri (read the pr. about him below), and the escalation of the Paleatinian violations against the media freedoms during the past couple of months. Representatives for the Palestinian Journalists' syndicate participated in the meeting, in addition to Alhaq organization, journalists and media organizations.
The participants approved taking action in order to establish a "human rights and media coalition", which will handle the follow up of the media freedoms file in Palestine through the following three axis: Legislations, general policies in this field, and the reality on the ground.
The participants also recommended to hold a meeting with the general prosecutor which aims to motivate allocating a specialized member in the general prosecutor to observe the issues of freedom of expression, in addition to implying the same suggestion with the Supreme Judicial Council in order to allocate a specialized judge to look into these matters, and enhance the role of the ethics committee in the journalists' syndicate.
Note: This article was republished in Al-Quds from the MADA website.
"Journalists, human rights and media organisations confirmed the importance of issuing a presidential decision by president Mahmoud Abbas, whereby he prohibits the detention of journalists in relation to their profession . Many incidents where journalists have been detained over various periods without conviction from Palestinian courts prove that the arrest is being used as a punitive procedure against journalists.
The abovementioned is the result of an open meeting which the Palestinian center for Development and Media Freedoms "MADA" organized in cooperation with Arabic Media Internet Network (AMIN) in the network's center in Albireh yesterday.
The meeting discussed the mechanisms to be used in order to protect the journalists, as a result to the general prosecutor's decision to detain the journalist Ihab Aljariri (read the pr. about him below), and the escalation of the Paleatinian violations against the media freedoms during the past couple of months. Representatives for the Palestinian Journalists' syndicate participated in the meeting, in addition to Alhaq organization, journalists and media organizations.
The participants approved taking action in order to establish a "human rights and media coalition", which will handle the follow up of the media freedoms file in Palestine through the following three axis: Legislations, general policies in this field, and the reality on the ground.
The participants also recommended to hold a meeting with the general prosecutor which aims to motivate allocating a specialized member in the general prosecutor to observe the issues of freedom of expression, in addition to implying the same suggestion with the Supreme Judicial Council in order to allocate a specialized judge to look into these matters, and enhance the role of the ethics committee in the journalists' syndicate.
Note: This article was republished in Al-Quds from the MADA website.