Gaza reporter ‘mistreated by occupation’
1/7/08
A Palestinian journalist said from his hospital bed on Monday that he was abused and injured by Israeli security personnel on his way home to the Gaza Strip after receiving a journalism award in Britain. Mohammed Omer, who writes for the pro-Palestinian Washington Report, said he was strip-searched and detained for nearly four hours at the Israeli-controlled Allenby Bridge when he crossed from Jordan into the occupied West Bank, en route to the Gaza Strip, on June 26. “They wanted to humiliate me. I collapsed in tears… I had to throw up twice and I fainted twice,” Omer said. “They asked silly questions about everything I had done during my trip to London and Europe and they made fun of me.” An Israeli government spokesman declined immediate comment and said he would seek information about the incident. Omer, 24, received the Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism, awarded to journalists who expose “establishment propaganda”, according to its website, at a ceremony in London on June 16.
See: http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=8997
Tags: Human Rights, Israel, Terrorism, USA