DOHA: Al Jazeera Media Network has condemned in the strongest terms the raid by the Palestinian Authority’s security services of the house of Al Jazeera journalist, Mohamad Atrash, and his arrest in the early hours yesterday.
He was detained and presented within a few hours to a court in Hebron simply for carrying out his professional duty as a journalist and after being prevented from continuing to cover the Israeli invasion of Jenin in the West Bank.
“What the security forces of the Palestinian Authority have done can only be explained as an attempt to withhold media coverage against the Israeli occupation forces’ attack on Palestinians in the city of Jenin; the refugee camp and the village. It is unfortunate that these arbitrary measures taken by the Palestinian Authority bodies are in line with targeting the Israeli occupation of Al Jazeera and its journalists,” Al Jazeera statement added.
Al Jazeera Media Network, while appreciating the positions and voices of human rights in solidarity and defending colleague Mohamad Atrash and freedom of the press, has called on the Palestinian Authority to immediately release Atrash and stop targeting its journalists. “The Network holds the Palestinian Authority fully responsible for the safety and security of all its employees in the West Bank.”