Palestine: Three women journalists released from Israeli jails in ceasefire deal
PICTURE: Rula Hassanein (Samidoun, Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network)
International Federation of Journalists
Rula Hassanein, Bushra Al-Tawil and Ashwaq Awad, women journalists and members of the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate (PJS), were among the 90 Palestinian prisoners released by Israel on 20 January.
Their release came as part of the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, which started a day earlier.
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) joins its affiliate, the PJS, in welcoming their release, and urges Israel to stop persecuting Palestinian journalists, and to immediately and unconditionally release them all.
On 19 January, Israel ratified a ceasefire and hostage deal with Hamas, mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States, which took effect the same day. Under the terms of the current ceasefire deal, both sides will stop military operations for 42 days, dozens of Israeli hostages and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners will be released, and Israeli troops will gradually withdraw from Gaza.
After the release of three Israeli hostages on 19 January, 90 Palestinian prisoners – all of them women and teenagers – were freed on 20 January in the first phase of the ceasefire deal. Among those liberated were the three Palestinian journalists, who were arrested after the war started on 7 October 2023.
Bushra Al-Tawil is aPalestinian journalist and a PJS member who works forJ-Media Network and was arrested and held in administrative detention on 7 March 2024, as reported by the PJS.
Al-Tawil has been arrested several times and has spent more than five years in Israeli jails at various times.
Israel’s security forces arrested Palestinian woman journalist and PJS member Rula Hassanein on 9 March 2024 during a raid on her home in Bethlehem, south of Jerusalem, in the occupied West Bank. They confiscated her laptop and phone.
When the journalist was arrested, she had to leave her nine-month-old baby with her husband.
Hassanein, who worked for the Ramallah-based Wattan News Agency and had earlier worked for Quds News Network, is well known for her coverage of the Israeli occupation and human rights violations. She was tried before an Israeli military court at Israel’s Ofer Prison and charged with incitement on social media for posts she had published.
Ashwaq Awad is a freelance photographer at Quds News Network and a PJS member. She was arrested on 31 August 2024 at a checkpoint in Hebron, in the occupied West Bank, when the Israeli military was closing the entrances to the city, according to Wafa news agency.
Awad was charged with incitement on social media for posts she published, according to PJS.
The IFJ and the PJS sounded the alarm about Israel’s escalation of a broader campaign to intimidate and imprison Palestinian journalists without charge following the 7th of October in order to deter them from reporting on the military occupation.
IFJ General Secretary Anthony Bellanger said: ‘We celebrate the return home of our three colleagues, who should never have been deprived of their freedom.’
‘Once again, we praise the relentless work of our affiliate, the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, and fully back their efforts for the release of jailed Palestinian journalists. Israel must halt its persecution of Palestinian journalists, and immediately and unconditionally release them all.’
The IFJ reiterates its call on the Israeli government to lift the media ban and ensure that foreign media can enter Gaza and report unhindered from the enclave.
- This article was first published here
