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Palestinian journalists demand Israel releases 21 colleagues

August 6, 2018 at 10:49 am

Palestinian journalists hold banners and shout slogans to show their support to their Palestinian counterparts in Israeli jails in Gaza City, Gaza on 19 April 2018 [Mustafa Hassona/Anadolu Agency]

Dozens of Palestinian journalists took part in a protest yesterday outside Israel’s Ofer prison in the central occupied West Bank, to demand the release of 21 imprisoned journalists, reported Xinhua.

The journalists held photos of their jailed colleagues and slogans calling for their immediate release.

According to Xinhua, the protest was initiated by the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate.

Omar Nazzal, member of the Syndicate Secretariat, said: “We stand here before several crimes by the occupation that takes more than one form.”

Nazzal said that Israeli measures against media outlets “have intensified last week as six journalists were arrested as part of the Israel’s mouth muzzling policy and efforts to stop Palestinians from reporting the truth about killings, settlements and Judaisation.”

Read: 5 female Palestinian journalists held in Israel jails

Mustafa Barghouti, head of the Palestinian National Initiative Party, said: “Israel is carrying out the worst type of oppression through its arrest of Palestinian journalists in the West Bank and killing of them in Gaza Strip during their coverage of the weekly Return Rallies on the borders.”

“According to the Palestinian Information Ministry, Israel currently imprisons 21 Palestinian journalists, including Alaa Rimawi, 40 years old, who announced an open hunger strike in protest of his arrest last week,” Xinhua added.