Local Arab journalists and foreigners working in Gaza protested the kidnapping of a BBC journalist by blocking Palestinian Authority (PA) government members from reaching their offices Wednesday.
Dozens of journalists had tape over their mouths to signify their refusal to comply with PA regulations censoring and dictating their journalistic coverage until BBC reporter Alan Johnston is released.
Though several journalists have, in the past, been briefly held and released after their captors made various demands from the PA, Johnston has been held since March 12th - longer than usual - with no claim of responsibility by any of Gaza’s terror factions.
"We have not heard from Alan in twenty-three days and are shamed that we have nothing to tell his elderly parents,” PA journalist union chief Sakher Abu-Awoun said.
Both Fatah and Hamas officials have told reporters off-the-record that the well-armed Doghmuch clan in Gaza is probably holding the BBC reporter. A member of the family denied the reports Tuesday.
The UN’s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura said in a statement Tuesday that Johnston must be immediately released. “When a journalist is abducted, the whole of society is taken hostage,” he said. “I call on the authorities to do their utmost to obtain his release as quickly as possible…All too many abductions have taken place recently, in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as in Gaza. Not all these kidnappings have ended in bloodshed, but they remain intolerable and must not go unpunished.”
To date, none of the kidnappers of the 15 journalists abducted in Gaza since the 2005 Disengagement have been punished. In fact, several have been given jobs in the PA in exchange for the release of their hostage.
Hamas chief and PA Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh addressed the protesting journalists, assuring them that ''The journalists and government are in the same trenches,'' and adding that his government is “not taking this issue lightly.''
Dozens of journalists had tape over their mouths to signify their refusal to comply with PA regulations censoring and dictating their journalistic coverage until BBC reporter Alan Johnston is released.
Though several journalists have, in the past, been briefly held and released after their captors made various demands from the PA, Johnston has been held since March 12th - longer than usual - with no claim of responsibility by any of Gaza’s terror factions.
"We have not heard from Alan in twenty-three days and are shamed that we have nothing to tell his elderly parents,” PA journalist union chief Sakher Abu-Awoun said.
Both Fatah and Hamas officials have told reporters off-the-record that the well-armed Doghmuch clan in Gaza is probably holding the BBC reporter. A member of the family denied the reports Tuesday.
The UN’s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura said in a statement Tuesday that Johnston must be immediately released. “When a journalist is abducted, the whole of society is taken hostage,” he said. “I call on the authorities to do their utmost to obtain his release as quickly as possible…All too many abductions have taken place recently, in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as in Gaza. Not all these kidnappings have ended in bloodshed, but they remain intolerable and must not go unpunished.”
To date, none of the kidnappers of the 15 journalists abducted in Gaza since the 2005 Disengagement have been punished. In fact, several have been given jobs in the PA in exchange for the release of their hostage.
Hamas chief and PA Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh addressed the protesting journalists, assuring them that ''The journalists and government are in the same trenches,'' and adding that his government is “not taking this issue lightly.''