On October 9, 2024, at 3 a.m., Israeli forces raided the house of Maher Haroun, a freelance journalist and media student at Al Quds Open University, in al-Am’ari Refugee Camp, a Palestinian refugee camp in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate, and arrested him, according to local media reports.
As a freelance photographer and camera operator, Haroun has contributed footage of protests to some local media outlets, including the broadcasters Palestine TV and AnNajah TV.
Haroun was initially held at the Hawara detention center in the northern West Bank, according to family members who spoke to CPJ. The family members said that Israeli soldiers put all other family members in one room of the house, arrested Haroun, and assaulted him outside of his house.
In April 2026, CPJ spoke to his father, Shaher Haroun, who said that Maher Haroun was being detained in Gilboa Prison, where he was initially sentenced to 11 months in prison for digital incitement and throwing stones at soldiers. After completing his sentence, instead of being released, he was placed under administrative detention for six months. The administrative detention order was renewed again on March 10, for an additional six months, and was set to end in September 2026.
Previously, on March 19, 2024, Palestinian General Intelligence agents arrested Haroun while he was covering a pro-Gaza march in the West Bank city of Ramallah and held him for questioning for three days, according to news reports, the Palestinian press freedom group MADA, and Haroun, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app on May 15.
During his detention, Haroun was repeatedly questioned about his work as a journalist and his filming of the protests, and was verbally and physically abused, according to MADA. No charges were filed against him, and no hearing was held on his case, the same sources said. He was released on March 22, 2024.
CPJ requested comment from the Israeli Prison Services on the extension of Haroun’s detention beyond his sentence duration but had not received a response at the time of publication.