Minister of Interior in Gaza orders investigations into journalists' complaints

The Palestinian Minister of the Interior in Gaza has ordered investigations into all complaints filed by journalists to his department. Fathi Hamad gave the order during a meeting with a delegation of journalists on 19 March, at which the problems faced by the media were discussed. Also in attendance were representatives of the government’s media office, government spokesman Taher El-Nounou and people from Hamas’s media team.

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Mr. Hamad told the meeting that the Interior Ministry will continue to listen to journalists in order to resolve any crisis that is “beyond the government’s policies”. He stressed that the government seeks to uphold the principles of freedom of speech and expression, and media freedom.
Orders have been issued, he said, for security forces to stop raiding media offices unless such raids were conducted as part of the implementation of the law. All equipment seized in such raids to-date will be returned forthwith, he added. “Any repercussions arising out of the tension between the government and journalists must end,” said the Minister.

The Interior Ministry’s media office is to form a delegation, in collaboration with the cabinet’s media office, to speak to the journalists who have filed complaints.

In response, journalists who attended the meeting with Minister Hamad highlighted the importance of a relationship between the Interior Ministry and the Cabinet on the one hand, and the media on the other hand, to be based on mutual cooperation.