A day after Israeli commandos intercepted a Gaza-bound flotilla, killing at least nine people and injuring dozens, over 30 journalists who were on board the boats reportedly remained in detention in Israel. A communications blackout was imposed on them, and on the hundreds of activists from the boats who also remained detained as they underwent processing. Several dozen activists were deported.
IPI on Monday reported that according to its research at least 20 journalists were on board the flotilla when it was intercepted.
The list, which could change as more information becomes available, includes:
Al Jazeera (Qatar)
1. Abbas Nasser
2. Othman Battiri
3. Mohammed Vall
4. Ali Sabri
5. Andre Khalil
6. Jamal al Shayal
7. Issam Zaatar
Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)
8. Paul McGeough
9. Kate Geraghty
bTV (Bulgaria)
10. Svetoslav Ivanov
11. Valentin Vasilev
TVOne (Indonesia)
12. M. Yassin
South Africa Radio 786 (South Africa)
13. Gadijah Davids
Astro Awani (Malaysia)
14. Ashwad Ismail,
15. Shamsul Kamal Latip
Gulf News (United Arab Emirates)
16. Abbas Al Lawati
Telesur (Spain)
17. David Segarra
Aaj TV (Pakistan)
18. Syed Talat Hussain
19. Raza Mahmood Agha
Other Journalists
20. Hassan Ghani (Scotland)
Executive Sydney Morning Herald editor Peter Kerr told IPI on Monday that Paul McGeough and Kate Geraghty faced a choice between Free Passage Deportation and further detention and trial.
A Tuesday report in the Sydney Morning Herald said that the two Australian journalists were still in an Israeli prison and remained out of contact.
Sydney Morning Herald editor Peter Fray told a press conference on Tuesday that he understood chief correspondent McGeough and photographer Geraghty were both safe but had declined to be deported immediately.
Both he and Kerr insisted that the journalists had a right to report and should be allowed to do so immediately, and freely.
Meanwhile, the South African news website Independent Online reported on Tuesday that Cape Town-based community radio station Radio 786 journalist Gadijah Davids, is alive, according to her mother. “The mere fact that she is alive is quite consoling for us,” her mother was quoted as saying.
Pakistani media reported that US special representative on Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke assured Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in a telephone call on Tuesday that three Pakistani citizens detained following the raid, including journalists Talat Hussain and Raza Mehmood Agha of Aaj TV channel were safe and that efforts were underway to bring them home.
However, Mustafa Baig, from Aaj TV’s editorial department, told IPI the channel had no new information about the two journalists. “The Israelis are not giving any information about the missing people,” he said. “We are following, we are trying to put pressure on the Israeli government.”
IPI Director David Dadge said: “We reiterate our call on the Israeli government to lift the communications blackout it has imposed, to free the journalists it has detained, and to allow the media to perform its work – which is all the more important at such a critical time. Failure to allow the free flow of information, following an incident like this, could send the message that the Israeli government has something to hide.”
