Al Jazeera demands Israel releases detained journalist

Al Jazeera is demanding that Israeli authorities release its Kabul bureau chief Samer Allawi, who has now been held for 28 days without charge.

According to the Qatar-based network, he is due to appear in court again tomorrow.

Allawi was arrested on 9 August at the border between the West Bank and Jordan, reportedly over suspected ties with the Palestinian group Hamas.

According to Al Jazeera, the Palestinian-born correspondent was returning home after a three-week vacation visiting his family.

Allawi's lawyer told press freedom group the Committee to Protect Journalists that he is being held on suspicion of ties to the military arm of Palestinian organisation Hamas, which enables Israeli authorities to try him in a military court and extend his detention without charge. He has now been held for 28 days after his detention was extended by a judge in August.

"Samer has already been held for an unacceptable period of time," Al Jazeera said today. "His family are understandably worried about him, during a period which has included the festival of Eid.

"We call upon the Israeli authorities to release him at tomorrow’s hearing."

A statement issued by the network today also claims that Israeli authorities have obtained Allawi's passwords to access its online email and content management system.

The Committee to Protect Journalists has asked Israeli authorities to clarify the reasons for Allawi's ongoing detention.

"Israeli authorities must publicly explain and provide evidence as to why they continue to hold Samer Allawi," said Mohamed Abdel Dayem, CPJ's Middle East and North Africa program coordinator. "Being a journalist is not a crime."

The CPJ has previously criticised Israel for trying Palestinian journalists in military tribunals rather than civilian courts, and wrote to the Israeli defence minister last year to say it was "alarmed by a recent spate of press freedom violations in the West Bank, including detentions, censorship, harassment, and physical attacks by Israeli soldiers".

Israel was ranked 87 out of 178 countries in last year's Reporters Without Borders press freedom index and deemed to have a "satisfactory situation".

According to an AFP report, around 150 journalists staged a demonstration at the UN offices in Gaza City on Saturday calling for Allawi's release.

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