Reporters Without Borders demands immediate release of five Palestinian journalists

Reporters Without Borders called today on Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to free at once five Palestinian journalists who have been held without explanation for several weeks and said their detention was "new proof of the Israeli army's contempt for the right to inform the public." "These journalists have all been put in administrative detention for three months but despite repeated requests by the media they work for, there has been no official confirmation of this or of why they are being held. This is unacceptable," the organisation's secretary-general, Robert Ménard, said in a letter to him. At least 20 Palestinian journalists have been arrested since the start of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian towns and cities on 29 March. The five journalists are Maher el-Dessuki, of the Ramallah-based Al-Quds Educational TV, Kamal Ali Jbeil, of the daily Al-Quds, Hussam Abu Alan, a photographer for Agence France-Presse (AFP), Yusri el-Jamal, a Reuters sound man, and Ayman el-Kawasmi, head of a local radio station El Horriya. Sound man Jamal and Mazen Dana, a Reuters cameraman, were arrested by Israeli soldiers on 30 April outside the hospital in Hebron where they had gone to film wounded people. The soldiers took them, blindfolded and handcuffed, to a district coordination office where they were forced to lie on the floor for several hours without food or drink. They were interrogated next morning. Dana received apologies and was freed, but Jamal was held prisoner because, according to a letter to Reuters from the Israeli army, he was suspected of "aiding a terror organisation." Also on 30 April in Hebron, Kawasmi was arrested at his home and also taken, handcuffed and blindfolded, to the district coordination office. The next day, he was taken to the Ofer detention centre, near Ramallah.  Photographer Alan (see photo) was arrested on 24 April at the Beit Anun checkpoint near Hebron. Along with Reuters cameraman Dana and other journalists, he was going to Bani Naim to cover the funeral of two Palestinians. Alan, who has worked for AFP for six years, was blindfolded and handcuffed by soldiers. He is suspected by the army of ""aiding the Tanzim terror organisation"."He was visited by a lawyer at the Ofer detention camp on 21 May and told him about the three-month administrative detention. Like most Palestinian journalists, he has not been able to get his Israeli press card renewed since the beginning of the year. Dessuki and Jbeil were arrested by Israeli soldiers on 18 April and are being held at the Ofer centre.