Release of cameraman employed by German TV station

Reporters Without Borders is relieved to learn that Sawah Abu Saif, a Palestinian cameraman employed by the German TV station ARD, was released today. ARD kept its Gaza bureau shut yesterday to protest against his arrest. Saif was arrested by Hamas security forces at his Gaza home on 25 July during a wave of arrests that followed a car bombing earlier the same day that killed five Hamas supporters and a girl. Hamas claimed that he was a Fatah supporter and was involved in the bombing. ------------------------------- Cameraman employed by German TV arrested in Hamas crackdown in Gaza Reporters Without Borders demands the immediate release of Sawah Abu Saif, a Palestinian cameraman employed by the German TV station ARD. Saif was taken by masked men from his Gaza home on 25 July in a wave of arrests by Hamas following a car bombing earlier the same day that killed six people. “We condemn Saif's arrest, just as we condemn the arrests of all journalists when they are arbitrary and unjustified,” Reporters Without Borders said. “Both Hamas and Fatah have for months been waging a vicious battle with dire consequences for the Palestinian press. Journalists working in the Gaza Strip who do not take orders from Hamas are often accused of siding with Fatah and harassed.” The press freedom organisation added: “The leaders of Hamas should call their members to order and should yet again tell them that journalists must be allowed to work freely and without obstruction. And the ARD cameraman should be freed at once.” Saif was arrested in his apartment in the west Gaza district of Tell el Hawa by four masked men affiliated to the security forces of the Islamist movement Hamas, who also confiscated his laptop and mobile phone. Hamas claims that he is a Fatah supporter. On 26 July, Hamas forces also arrested Fouad Jarrada of the Palestinian government TV station and Amro Farra, a correspondent of the Palestinian government news agency. In the West Bank, Fatah forces arrested Alaa el Titi, a correspondent of the Hamas TV station Al Aqsa, and Mostapha Sabri, the editor of the newspaper Falastin. More than 50 journalists have been arrested in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank since Hamas seized power in the Gaza Strip in June 2007.