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West Bank court sentences Palestinian journalist to 18 months in prison

Reporters Without Borders is outraged by the 18-month jail sentence that a court in the West Bank city of Nablus has passed on Palestinian journalist Tareq Abu Zayd, the correspondent of Hamas-run TV station Al-Aqsa.

"We call on the West Bank authorities to do what is necessary to free this journalist, who was just doing his work," Reporters Without Borders said. "We are astonished that the mere fact of working for Al-Aqsa is treated as a crime."

The sentence was imposed by a Palestinian Authority military court on 16 February. Zayd has been held for more than three months in Nablus, 60 km north of Jerusalem. The supreme court in Ramallah ordered his release on 12 January but the order was ignored. Zayd was arrested several times last year by militias loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Another journalist, Abdel Ghani Samara, the correspondent of the online magazine Chabab Al-Yawm (Youth of Today), was meanwhile arrested by West Bank security forces on 19 February. No explanation has been given for his detention.

Zayd's jail sentence and Samara's arbitrary detention are symptomatic of a general increase in tension between Hamas and Fatah in the Palestinian Territories.

Topics: Freedom of speech, Freedom of information, Freedom of expression,