Marking World Press Freedom Day, which falls on May 3 of each year, the Commission for Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society, and Addameer Association for Prisoner Support and Human Rights said the Israeli occupation authorities continue to detain 16 Palestinian journalists, four of whom are held under administrative detention without charge or trial. They said in a report issued today that the occupation authorities continue to restrict freedom of opinion and expression for the Palestinians and impose censorship and control over them as part of its apartheid regime tools, most notably arrest, intimidation, house arrest, and repeated attacks while on the job in an effort to undermine their role in society and to prevent them from exposing the ongoing crimes against the Palestinians. The most prominent of these crimes and violations against journalists was last year’s murder of Al-Jazeera reporter in Palestine, Shireen Abu Akleh, whose murder anniversary coincides on May 11, in addition to the killing of journalist Ghufran Warasneh. The three organizations accused Israel of escalating this year its aggression against Palestinian journalists in the occupied territories.

Source: Palestine News & Information Agency (WAFA)