Israeli police have arrested and beaten a cameraman from the Qatar-based satellite TV channel Al Jazeera and confiscated his equipment. Nabil Mazzawi was in the village of Bil'in near Ramallah in the West Bank filming a demonstration against the controversial security barrier when he was arrested, along with four activists. Al Jazeera alleges Mazzawi was badly beaten by police officers when he was arrested.
The police say he was arrested for attacking a police officer. They said one of the activists also attacked an officer, while the other three lay on the road and refused to move. | "He kept hitting my fist with his face. Look at that swelling on my knuckles, it'll be sore for a week!" |
According to the Israeli Defence Forces, around 40 Israelis, Palestinians and foreigners took part in the protests, which Mazzawi was filming, along with reporter Shirin Abu Akali. The foreign press association in Israel described the arrest as "completely unjustified" and called for his immediate release.
Reporters without Borders, an international press freedom organisation, says the Al Jazeera network has suffered persistent harassment. It has been censored in Algeria, Iran, Tunisia and Canada. The Iraqi government also closed down the channel's Baghdad bureau in August 2004.
Another of the channel's cameraman, Sami al-Haj, has been imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba since the beginning of 2002. | Quit being a terrorist media outlet and we'll quit oppressing you. |
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