Palestinian news outlets closed for saying Hamas aided Brotherhood

Hamas authorities closed down two media offices in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, claiming that they fabricated reports of Palestinians being involved in the current political turmoil in Egypt, lying to Egyptians and distorting the image of the Palestinian resistance.

The authorities refused to provide the media offices with copies of the closure order, impeding the offices’ ability to challenge their closure before the courts. The Gaza prosecutor general’s allegations do not justify closure of the media offices under international law, said a Human Rights Watch statement released today.

The two press outlets, Al-Arabiya and Ma'an News Agency, had broadcast and published reports implicating Hamas in supporting the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. The reports resulted in the order of closure, as announced by Ismael Jabr, the prosecutor general, for fabricating news and publishing baseless rumors that may threaten civil peace and harm the Palestinian people and their resistance.

Egyptian officials recently alleged that Hamas fighters helped senior members of the Brotherhood to escape from Wadi Natrun Prison during the January 2011 uprising.

A previous HRW report released in April 2011 stated that the Palestinian Authority and Hamas had both severely harassed Palestinian journalists in the West Bank and Gaza. It documented cases in which security forces tortured, beat, and arbitrarily detained journalists and confiscated their equipment.

"Both the PA in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza need to end these blatant attacks on free expression," said Joe Stark, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, in the 2011 report. He added that Palestinian security forces were becoming notorious for assaulting and intimidating journalists who are just trying to do their jobs.

The Palestinian Press and Publications Law provides that journalists have the right to protect confidential sources of information unless a court decides that revealing the source is needed to maintain security and promote justice. However, two conflicting — and vague — articles state that the law prohibits publishing material that contradicts the principles of freedom and information that harms national unity.

As it is impossible to nail down the type of prohibited information, and thus what would constitute a crime, freedom of press is constantly jeopardized, leaving journalists vulnerable to arbitrary arrests and violating their right to defend themselves.

A pro-Hamas newspaper, Al-Resalah, quoted Hamas spokesperson Sami abu Zuhri claiming that Al-Arabiya aims to distort the image of Palestinian resistance by lying to the Egyptian people about the former’s involvement in Egypt's political turmoil.

"If the Gaza authorities think that these news outlets have misrepresented them, it should be easy enough to provide accurate information and debunk their stories, but they shouldn't just shut down their critics," said Tom Porteous, deputy program director at HRW, in the statement released today. "These actions do not square with Gaza Authorities' claims to respect freedom."

Palestine is not internationally recognized as a state and therefore cannot ratify international human rights treaties. It has repeatedly vowed to uphold human right standards, however, including freedom of press.