Watchdog: ‘Israel’ holds 19 Palestinian journalists in prison
Ramallah (QNN)- The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said that the occupation state of Israeli is holding 19 Palestinian journalists in prisons. The committee called on international organizations to intervene and protect the rights of speech in Palestine.
In a statement commenting on the arrest of the journalist Ahmad Qatamesh in Al Bireh, West Bank, the CPJ said that “arresting Qatamesh has increased the total number of arrested journalists in Israeli jails to 19, including five authors and academics.”
Ahmad Qatamesh (69 years old) is an author and former prisoner, who spent a total of 14 years in Israeli prisons in several arrests.
“Israeli authorities continue to target journalists, authors, and academics over their views and activity on social media platforms and their work, under false pretenses”, CPJ said.
It called on the international community and organizations to “intervene and protect the Palestinian people’s right of expression without any restrictions or detention.”
The occupation state is holding nearly 4600 Palestinian political prisoners, including 35 women and nearly 200 children, according to statistics from the Prisoners Association issued last September.
