A British journalist has been arrested in Gaza on suspicion of endangering the security of the state. Paul Martin, a freelance journalist and documentary film-maker who has previously written for The Times, was taken into custody yesterday by Hamas security forces. A Hamas police spokesman, Ehab Ghussein, said that they had obtained “confessions that the British journalist violated Palestinian law and the security of the state'. He is being held in a central Gaza prison. It was reported that Mr Martin had travelled to Gaza to testify at the trial of a militant from a group called the Abu Rish Brigades who is accused of passing information to Israel. The small militant organisation has previously claimed responsibility for kidnappings and firing rockets into Israel. A spokesman for the group told the Associated Press that a Gaza judge had ordered Mr Martin to be held for two weeks during the trial.
Fadi Adeeb, a spokesman for the British consulate in Jerusalem, said: “We are urgently looking into the matter and following up with the responsible people so we can sort this matter out on the consular level.'