The Israeli occupation authorities have extended the detention of Palestinian journalist Nasser Al-Lahham and referred him to the Ofer military court until next Thursday. This move reflects a systematic policy aimed at suppressing Palestinian journalists and silencing freedom of expression.
Al-Lahham was arrested at dawn today after Israeli forces raided his home in the town of Doha, in Bethlehem Governorate, where they proceeded to destroy its contents during the operation, a scene that has become all too familiar for dozens of journalists and activists in the occupied Palestinian territories.
His arrest is part of a broader campaign targeting media professionals, with 55 journalists currently detained in Israeli prisons. Among them, 22 are held under administrative detention without charge or fair trial, based on so-called “secret files” that are not even accessible to their lawyers, a blatant violation of due process and international legal standards.
Administrative detention, which is routinely extended without any clear time limit, is used as a political tool to silence dissenting voices, particularly those who expose the occupation’s crimes or report on-the-ground realities from within Palestine.
In recent years, the Israeli authorities have increasingly used the charge of “incitement on social media” as a pretext to detain journalists and activists, many of whom are imprisoned based on posts, likes, or shares, without any legal evidence to justify such persecution.
The arrest of Nasser Al-Lahham, one of Palestine’s most prominent journalists, sends a direct message to anyone seeking to fulfill their professional and moral duty in reporting the truth. It underscores the fact that the occupation views free speech as an existential threat it seeks to eliminate by force.
