The five imprisoned Palestinian journalists of Sanabel Radio – Ahmad Daraweesh, Montasser Nassar, Mohammed Imran Sous, Nidal Amro and Hamed Nammoura – released a letter from Ofer prison in which they state that the Israeli occupation military prosecution is seeking to imprison them for three years on allegations of “incitement” for their public repoting of news and information about Israeli attacks on Palestinians.
They declared that they were subject to repeated and extensive interrogation on their broadcasts and programs, their broadcasting of revolutionary and historic Palestinian music and their use of the word “martyr” for Palestinians killed by the occupation forces, noting that these things are considered “incitement.” The prisoners said that these charges and demanded sentences prove the intent to hurt Palestinian journalists and media organizations and “raise the alarm for what is coming against journalists and media organizations in Palestine.”
“If the prosecutors are able to impose this prison sentence on these charges, this will serve as a gateway for the future arrest and prosecution of journalists, restricting their freedom. The indictments and jails will be ready,” they warned. They emphasized that they will not accept such a sentence and will not serve as a means of legitimizing new or intensified Zionist persecution of Palestinian journalists.
Their radio station in Dura near al-Khalil was raided in a violent storming by Israeli occupation forces on 31 August 2016, confiscating their equipment and shutting down the station. They are among dozens of Palestinian journalists imprisoned by the Israeli occupation, including Hasan Safadi, the Arabic media coordinator of Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, whose imprisonment without charge or trial was extended today for another six months.
