JANUARY 24, 2006
Posted: February 1, 2006
Mais Abu Ghazaleh, Palestine News Network
HARASSED
Abu Ghazaleh, 23, was summoned and questioned extensively by Israeli intelligence regarding her work for the Palestine News Network, according to the journalist and the network’s director, Fadi Abu Sada
On January 23, Israeli intelligence called Abu Ghazaleh’s house and told her father that they wanted to speak with her the following day at 10:30 a.m. at the Ras al-Amoud police station, the journalist told CPJ. The next day, Abu Ghazaleh went with her husband, who was not allowed in the building. Officers searched Abu Ghazaleh, ordering her to remove her shirt and shoes, Abu Ghazaleh told CPJ. She said investigators questioned how she came to be the first to report that Islamic Jihad stabbed an Israeli soldier in Sheikh Jarrah on November 25, 2005. Abu Ghazaleh told them that she did not have direct contact with Islamic Jihad, that she didn’t remember the exact details, and that they should contact the Palestine News Network. The questioning lasted an hour and a half. Investigators also instructed her to call a designated number to provide further information.
During the interrogation, investigators showed her aerial images of where her family’s houses are located and intimated they had detailed information about her and her family, she told CPJ.
Palestine News Network is an independent new organization established in 2003 and its twelve correspondents in the West Bank and Gaza Strip provide reports in four languages: Arabic, English, French and Hebrew.