Israeli forces arrested Palestinian journalist Nasser al-Laham, 59, at his home in the Doha area of Bethlehem in the southern West Bank on July 7, 2025. Al-Laham is the editor-in-chief of the independent Ma’an News Agency and the West Bank bureau chief of the Beirut-based Al-Mayadeen TV.
“An Israeli occupation force accompanied by two Shin Bet agents arrived at our home in the Doha area of Bethlehem at 2:30 a.m.,” his son, Marsel al-Laham, told CPJ. “They tried to break down the door of the building.”
The soldiers destroyed much of the house while searching it, and questioned al-Laham and his parents, he told CPJ.
“They were looking for a [broadcasting] studio,” Marsel al-Laham said, “as they believed my father had established a private studio at home, which was not true. They confiscated seven phones, including old ones, that were in the house.”
Al-Laham’s brother said that they took the journalist to the Moskobiyya detention center in the Etzion settlement in West Jerusalem.
The Commission of Detainees’ Affairs said in a statement that al-Laham’s detention was extended until July 10. On July 10 and July 13, Ofer military court extended the detention of al-Laham for three days on each date.
The journalist’s son told CPJ that his father’s detention was extended “under the pretext that there were no new developments before the judge and that his case needed further investigation.”
On July 15, 2025, al-Laham was released.
“They transferred me to a room in Ofer Prison, and I had no idea I was about to be released,” al-Laham told CPJ. “They then transferred me to the Al-Jib military checkpoint, west of Jerusalem, barefoot and in my prison clothes. I had no idea where I was. They ordered me to run, [which I did] until I met some Palestinian youth.”
Al-Mayadeen TV condemned the arrest and said it “considered what happened not surprising given the occupation’s sadistic practices and hostility to the media and the freedom to convey the truth.”
Israel banned Al-Mayadeen TV from working in Israel on November 12, 2023.
CPJ emailed the IDF’s North America Desk inquiring about the arrest of al-Laham, but did not immediately receive any response.