Arab Organisation for Human Rights in the UK (AOHR UK) said that the arrest of journalist Sami Al-Saie by the Palestinian Security Services sends a negative message which reflects its insistence on using repressive policies with the Palestinian to increase their suffering.
AOHR UK added that a force from the Preventive Security Service in the city of Tulkarm arrested Al-Saie on the evening of Tuesday June 09, without giving any reasons. Activists believed he was arrested for calling to boycott Israeli goods and products.
AOHR UK also stated that Al-Saie had been previously imprisoned at Israeli prisons and was also a former detainee by the Palestinian authorities. He was arrested more than once, most recently in February 2017 by the Palestinian Intelligence Services on a fabricated charge, before being released a month later, during which he was severely tortured. Al-Saie was denied the right to legal remedies and the violations he was subjected to were never investigated.
AOHR UK condemned the ongoing policy of arbitrary detention, restrictions on the work of journalists and targeting of activists by the Palestinian Security Services, at a time where the Palestinian people are facing the largest settlement attack and the occupation government’s will to annex parts of the West Bank. The organisation stressed that these practices only serve the interests of the Israeli occupation.
AOHR UK held the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh fully responsible for the safety of Al-Saie, and called for his immediate release. It also called on ending the practices of arbitrary arrests and all forms of suppression of freedom of opinion and expression.
