Editorial Note: The following news reports are summaries from original sources. They may also include corrections of Arabic names and political terminology. Comments are in parentheses.

Israeli court sentences Al-Aqsa journalist, Muhammed Al-Halayka, to one year in jail

[ 12/06/2008 - 10:27 AM ]

AL-KHALIL, (PIC)--

The Israeli Ofer military court has sentenced correspondent of the Aqsa TV satellite channel Mohammed Ezzat Al-Halayka to one-year imprisonment term after it accused him of working with an "enemy" TV channel.

The court also fined Halayka, 25, who hails from the West Bank city of Al-Khalil, 1,200 US dollars in addition to the imprisonment term.

Halayka was arrested by the IOF troops last December, on charges he was "working with a Hamas-owned TV channel".The Palestinian journalist was also arrested by the PA security apparatuses under the command PA chief Mahmoud Abbas, and was humiliated at the hands of the PA intelligence elements prior to his arrest by the Israelis.

For its part, the Palestinian journalist bloc (PJB) immediately condemned the court's ruling, describing the jail sentence as "a continuation of the Israeli occupation government's arrogance and a desperate attempt with the aim to conceal the IOF troops' crimes against the Palestinian people".

In this regard, the PJB called on the "civilized" world to immediately intervene in order to stop the Israeli "suppression" of the Palestinian people's right to express their opinions which, the bloc asserted, flagrantly violates international laws and conventions.

The Palestinian center for the defense of prisoners described the ruling as a "crime" that is added to the series of the Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people.

In a statement it issued on the matter and a copy of which was obtained by the PIC, the human rights center asserted that the ruling against Halayka was part of the Israeli aggression against "everything Palestinian", underlining, however, that no matter what measures the Israeli occupation government would take against the Palestinian media outlets and Palestinian journalists, it wouldn’t be able to silence the Palestinian voice.

Last month, the IOF troops killed Reuters cameraman in Gaza Fadel Shana'a who was covering the IOF troops' aggression on eastern Gaza city when an Israeli tank deliberately targeted and killed him.