IPI Calls for Due Process for Al-Jazeera Journalist Detained by Israel

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VIENNA, 16 August 2011: An Israeli court today ruled that Al-Jazeera Kabul Bureau Chief Samer Allawi can continue to be held in custody for another seven days as he is investigated for links to Hamas, Al-Jazeera journalists told IPI by phone from Jerusalem. Today’s hearing comes a full week after the journalist was first detained by the Israeli government while crossing from the West Bank into Jordan. Allawi was first arrested on 10 August while on his way back to Kabul from the West Bank city of Nablus, where his family live, according to news reports and the Committee to Protect Journalists. Although Al-Jazeera Jerusalem Bureau Chief Walid Al-Omary told AFP that no official reason for Allawi’s arrest had been given, he told IPI that it seems likely that the journalist was arrested because of his work for the Doha-based news network. “I can’t find any other reason – they are just trying to punish Al-Jazeera. There are a lot of members of Hamas in the West Bank and no one arrests them,” Al-Omary said. “I believe that all these excuses from Israeli intelligence forces that they mentioned  in the military court today are not true – they accused him of ties to Hamas and it’s not true,” Al-Omary said, adding that according to Allawi’s lawyer, the journalist was not questioned by the Israelis about any connection with Hamas. “What they did today in the court was because they are looking for an excuse to let the judge to expand the remand,” he said. Al-Omary noted that colleagues were “amazed” that Allawi had been detained. Allawi has been given access to Al-Jazeera’s lawyer and was able to call his family, Al-Jazeera correspondent Shireen Abu Aqleh said. She said that this is the first time that Allawi, a Palestinian citizen, has had problems entering and leaving the Palestinian Territories, where he visits his family near Nablus every year.  “Unless the Israeli government can produce evidence that shows a need for further investigations, they should free Samer Allawi immediately,” IPI Director Alison Bethel McKenzie said. “This editor has already spent seven days in custody without knowing what charge is against him, and should be freed so that he can return to Afghanistan and do his job.”