This article was originally published on Achieve 24 FM Palestine in Arabic.

By Hala Al-Zuhairi

“If you want me to repeat my statement expecting inconsistencies in the details or a change in my narrative, then you should know that I’m not immune to error and forgetfulness,” said Najla Zeitoun when recalling what happened with her while giving her statement of the attack she suffered on 26 June 2021. 

On that day, journalist Najla Zeitoun went out to the Manara roundabout in downtown Ramallah to cover a protest march against the death of activist and opposition figure Nizar Banat at the hands of members of the Palestinian Security Services (PSS). Zeitoun had been working for the Quds News Network as a freelancer when mass demonstrations erupted in the streets demanding accountability for the perpetrators and chanting slogans calling for the Palestinian Authority (PA) and President Mahmoud Abbas to be ousted.

Horrifying scenes and live footage of the assault on women journalists covering the demonstration were captured on cameras, as plainclothes security personnel, both men and women, cracked down on, beat, and dragged demonstrators and activists.

Zeitoun is one of the journalists subjected to physical and verbal abuse during these demonstrations. She was battered with a stick by a plainclothes security officer, leaving bruises all over her body, and her phone was forcefully seized from her.

Zeitoun started by refuting the narrative of the security services, which claimed that the journalists intentionally provoked security personnel, failed to stay within the designated coverage areas, did not wear press uniforms, and lacked a valid membership card with the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS).

Attached is a picture showing a valid PJS membership card.

The attack on Zeitoun began with insults by a plainclothes officer even though she had explicitly identified herself as a journalist dressed in a press vest. However, the officer pushed her and started beating her.

“The assault was captured on camera although I kept loudly repeating that I was a journalist. The footage shows me being struck on the hand with a stick and the moment my phone was snatched. I haven’t been able to recover my phone until now. I can also be seen trying to chase the person who took away my phone, a narrative that was later distorted to falsely suggest that I was chasing the officer to attack him,” said Zeitoun.

Zeitoun was also assaulted by two plainclothes women, one of whom threatened her by saying, “I will rip your eyes out with my fingers,” while a group of young men pursued her shouting insults and profanities. At one point they managed to surround her, and one of them said, “Who do you want to start with you?” Luckily a shop owner was nearby. He took her in and locked the door to protect her.

Najla Zeitoun had bruises in several places on her body, as documented by camera footage and also validated by a medical report attached herewith.

She decided to file a complaint to the Military Court after identifying three of the security officers who had attacked her. She went there with the head of the group Lawyers for Justice, Mohannad Karajah, and submitted her statement to three or four people. “While giving my statement, the investigator would leave and another would come in and ask me to repeat my account in an attempt to make me change or erroneously state the details,” she says.

Until now, after filing the complaint along with the photos, footage, and medical report, no court session has been held.

But the story was far from over. Three days after Zeitoun’s recourse to the Military Court, a fake Instagram account was created under her name, posting pornographic content. Regrettably, some of this inappropriate material made its way to her 12-year-old son. Other materials were posted using the Story feature, suggesting she was desperate and contemplating suicide. This implicit threat left her distressed and unsettled. She immediately posted that the account was not hers, then contacted someone from the Cybercrime Unit who told her that the account “vanished,” meaning it was deleted, and that there was nothing they could do.

Zeitoun, a divorced mother of two, says that most of the harassment she endures is directed toward her social status as a divorced woman. She believes that, had her family held a different mindset, these intimidations would have culminated in her death. At the time of the assault, her brothers were being detained in Israeli prisons. Throughout the attacks and threats she faced she was constantly told, “You have no shoulder to lean on.”

Several human rights organisations documented Zeitoun’s case, including the Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR), Al-Haq Organisation, Addameer Organisation, and Lawyers for Justice group, to no avail. 

Zeitoun lost hope in bringing accountability to the officers who had attacked her, saying that when she followed up with one of the organisations about developments in the case, a woman employee there asked her: “So you want to file a lawsuit?” Shocked by the question, Zeitoun replied sarcastically, “You think I came here to vent?”

It is worth noting that the competent authorities do not provide journalists with a clear outline of the required procedures for initiating legal proceedings. Additionally, it is important to recognise that documenting an incident serves only to register a complaint and not as a judicial report. During our conversation with Zeitoun, we informed her that she must mandate the PJS lawyer for her defense and authorise him to pursue her case. However, merely documenting the incident with PJS does not guarantee that legal action will be taken.

Zeitoun believes that the PJS failed to properly follow up on the case, noting that she and several other victims contacted a member of PJS executive staff on the same day. However, he said that he was attending a wedding and asked them to speak to him later. She repeatedly tried in vain to contact the President of the PJS, Nasser Abu Bakr. She eventually had to message him on social media.

We spoke with Nasser Abu Bakr, PJS President, and asked why he could not be reached by phone at that time. He said he was in Egypt attending a conference, and that international roaming services were not available for Palestinian numbers. Nevertheless, he immediately contacted his colleagues in the General Secretariat who promptly issued a statement denouncing the assault and demanding an apology from the government, followed by appropriate accountability measures. Abu Bakr emphasised that the PJS takes a resolute stance against any assault on press freedom and the right of journalists to cover events, move, and access information freely.

When asked about the absence of the condemnation statement on the PJS website or social media page, which we noticed when we tried to access the statement, Abu Bakr explained that the website was updated last May by the International Federation of Journalists, and he was no expert in technical details. Nevertheless, he assured us that the statement exists and was published in all media outlets. 

Palestinian Journalists Syndicate: “We did not receive any official authorisation from any journalist”

We spoke with PJS lawyer Ala’a Freijat on 17 August 2022. He indicated that the Syndicate issued a statement calling for the dismissal of the General Commander of Police due to the failure to protect journalists, emphasizing that the PJS did not receive any written complaints.

Freijat explained that, if any journalist is subjected to a violation and mandates the PJS for their defense, the latter assumes full responsibility for the case and follows up with the relevant authorities, up to the judiciary. However, in the absence of such a complaint or mandate, the Syndicate would not be allowed to act on behalf of the journalist as it would be considered a “personal complaint” under Palestinian law.

He further clarified that the PJS had filed complaints about the events in general, but they had taken on a disciplinary nature within the security apparatus, according to what they had been told. “Some cases were very clear, including Shatha Hammad, Najla Zeitoun, Faten Alwan, Mohammed Ghaferi, Karim Khmash, and Saja Al-Alami, but we did not receive a written complaint or explicit authorisation from any journalist,” he said. This was later confirmed by Abu Bakr, who explained that, in previous incidents, the PJS was been able to hold police officers accountable for assaulting journalists, but they had complaints submitted to the lawyer.

Civil Commission for the Independence of Judiciary and Rule of Law: “Until now, we have not heard or been informed that the Military Court conducted an investigation or referred suspects to the court”

“The furthest the Public Prosecution went was to transfer these cases to the Military Court, but until now we have not heard directly or indirectly that the latter has conducted an investigation into these assaults or presented any of the perpetrators to the court,” said Majed Al-Arouri, Executive Director of the Civil Commission for the Independence of Judiciary and Rule of Law.

“Unfortunately, in the year that followed the death of Nizar Banat, at least 67 journalists were assaulted during peaceful gatherings across governorates. Several cases of arrest, persecution, and other forms of pressure against journalists were reported, and no measures were taken to facilitate their work,” he added.

Al-Arouri noted that reports had been filed to various authorities, some of which were by key human rights organisations, and handed over to the Attorney General, but no steps were taken because these assaults were carried out by the military and, therefore, fall under the jurisdiction of the Military Court.

Al-Arouri pointed out that the only case that was investigated was related to the confiscation of a journalist’s phone by a security officer. However, the investigation did not address the circumstances of the confiscation or the journalist’s rights, but rather the selling of a stolen phone, as it later turned out that the officer attempted to sell the device.

He further argued that the police were close to plainclothes personnel and witnessed the assault firsthand, and thus they are responsible for protecting journalists and prosecuting the attackers. “This is the police’s duty in the case of peaceful gatherings, and in some cases, security personnel themselves transported some of the injured to the hospital. Would this have to be reported?” he wondered.

MADA: “In a rare occurrence, Palestinians committed more violations than Israelis in June 2021”

In an interview (dated 18 August 2022) we conducted with Shereen Al-Khatib, a project coordinator at the Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms “MADA,” she said that Nizar Banat’s death was a turning point in the scale of prosecution targeting journalists by the security services.

In a rare occurrence, June 2021 saw the number of Palestinian violations exceed that of Israeli violations. We documented more than 69 assaults and pursuits against journalists by Palestinian authorities, accounting for 56% of the total documented violations for that month.

The violations were mostly directed towards women journalists and involved harassment, restriction of freedom, physical assault, confiscation of phones, incitement, defamation, and invasion of privacy aimed at intimidating them.

“We have observed a noticeable presence of security personnel, in both military and civilian clothing, who have been involved in the attacks. Meanwhile, despite journalists’ direct pleas for protection, the heavy presence of police officers did not offer any assistance or safeguard,” added Al-Khatib.

“We are yet to see justice being served,” she concludes, “nor investigations yielding results.”

Independent Commission for Human Rights: “We have not been officially informed of any action taken against security personnel”

The Director of the Investigation and Complaints Department at the Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR), Attorney Musa Abu Dahim, confirmed what others have said about not being informed of any action taken against any member of the security apparatus.

Regarding the follow-up mechanism, Abu Dahim explained, “The Commission has field monitors across governorates, and when a march is announced, we communicate with the organisers and the provincial office. Upon having a clear idea of the gathering, we deploy field officers dressed in ICHR uniform to monitor the situation without interfering or engaging in it.”

“We monitor violations or abuses through individual or collective complaints (like attacking a peaceful gathering), then address the parties responsible for the attack. If the party is known, we communicate with higher authorities such as the Prime Minister’s Office. Citizens have the right and option to file a complaint; however, in all cases, we document the violation and include it in the monthly monitoring report,” Abu Dahim added.

He noted, “The Commission does not take a legal course; we follow up with official bodies through correspondences, statements, and meetings. This is our role, and the judiciary is the last resort.”

The military judiciary backs down on holding an interview and only permits access to the case file

On 7 September 2022, we initiated contact with the Military Prosecutor’s Office to schedule an interview. We were asked to send a copy of the questions, which we did on September 14. Then, we were informed that the interview would be conducted with the Chief Military Prosecutor in Ramallah, Colonel Samer Nasser. After making the necessary arrangements, coordinating with the Military Prosecutor’s Office, and getting our questions approved, we were informed on the same day of the interview on 28 September 2022 that the Military Prosecutor refused to conduct the interview, citing that it was not legally permissible to speak or disclose any details shared by the complainant or the accused.

We clarified that all we wanted was to know about the progress of the case and not the details that were previously disclosed by the parties. However, our request for an interview was rejected and we were only allowed to review the case file.

We contacted the Chief Military Prosecutor in Ramallah, Col. Samer Nasser, to schedule a date to access the case file.

On 6 October 2022, we headed to the Military Court’s headquarters in Ramallah to review the case file. We did not encounter any complications or inspections. Col. Nasser was at his office. He showed a positive attitude toward our inquiry and answered our questions. However, we were not permitted to physically handle or directly read specific parts of the case file, nor were we allowed to take pictures of it. Our access to the file was limited to the Military Prosecutor reading certain sections of it and showing us the file and complaint numbers, as well as the financial receipt and a summons for those mentioned in the complaint. He confirmed that there were multiple summons, but we noticed that one of these letters was issued in September 2022, after we first contacted them to schedule an interview.

During the two-hour meeting, we inquired about the reasons why cases took so long to be decided. In this regard, Col. Nasser confirmed that military judicial procedures are very fast, but hindrances are caused by the parties involved in the case.

In the complaint filed to the Military Court by journalist Najla Zeitoun (Case no. 295-21 with paid financial receipt) against three members of the Preventive Security Service and Presidential Guard, no investigation has been conducted to date with the persons involved in the complaint as their agencies did not respond to the summonses issued by the military prosecution.

According to Col. Nasser, the parties’ delayed response and the lack of evidence slow down the complaint process, and the case ends up being dismissed. Dismissal suggests that either the act subject of the complaint does not constitute a criminal offense or there is no sufficient evidence to conduct a trial. The Public Prosecutor also pointed out that, if enough evidence was available, the case might be referred to the court and a ruling issued in absentia.

Regarding this aspect in particular, Zeitoun said that the Military Court requested a forensic medical examination and a medical report from entities accredited by the military prosecution. We attach here a copy of the medical report that Zeitoun included in her file. However, the prosecution did not approve the report and requested one from an accredited physician. As the attached medical report was rejected and a new one was required after a considerable time had elapsed since the incident and the bruises had disappeared, a crucial and established aspect of the case was deliberately disregarded.

Zeitoun did not try to obtain a new report because she had lost hope in the possibility of achieving justice. In her opinion, requesting videos that prove she was beaten was not a valid reason for not pursuing the case, especially since the incident was not only witnessed by the press, but also by security personnel in military clothing who were present at the time. Furthermore, the bruises and the signs of the beating had disappeared by the time the military prosecution reviewed the case.

“The Military Prosecutor in Ramallah did not receive anything from human rights organisations or the ICHR,” indicated Col. Nasser.

Later, we contacted the spokesperson of the Palestinian Police, Colonel Louai Arzekat, who told us over the phone that the officials responsible for discussing this case are the government spokesperson Ibrahim Melhem and the PSS spokesperson Talal Dweikat. We tried repeatedly to contact both of them and sent messages in an attempt to schedule an interview but received no response.

In the same context, it is worth highlighting the statements made by Major General Talal Dweikat, General Political Commissioner and PSS spokesperson, regarding the incidents that took place during the demonstration of 26 June 2022.

In the episode of 5 July 2022 of “Sa’at Raml,” a show produced and broadcasted by Wattan Media Network, he said, “Rumours of plainclothes security personnel attacking citizens are not true, as security members were present in their official uniforms.”

“If a journalist is assaulted, they can file a formal complaint to the PJS and the police, and we are ready to investigate. If an act of violation was indeed committed by a security officer against a journalist, then I would like to officially apologise to the entire press establishment,” he added.

Commenting on the events, the Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International, Saleh Higazi, said, “President Mahmoud Abbas must order an immediate halt to this appalling campaign and ensure that the police and other security forces are held accountable for these human rights violations.”

According to Amnesty International’s report, “On 26 June [2021], immediately after the initial protest dispersal, groups of men in civilian clothes also began attacking demonstrators and bystanders. Some were believed to be members of the security forces and others individuals affiliated to the political party Fatah. On 27 June, protesters came under attack from men in plainclothes again before they had even had time to gather properly. On both occasions, women were particularly targeted, many of them journalists, including with sexual assault.”

On 7 July 2021, a group of female journalists refused to meet with Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh, who wanted to listen to their stories after they had been assaulted while covering demonstrations.

The journalists informed the Government’s Spokesperson, Ibrahim Melhem, that any apology from the government would not be acceptable without holding those involved in the attacks accountable.

They explained during their conversation with Melhem that they were attacked, filmed, and blackmailed on the evening of the same day PM Shtayyeh made an announcement about the protection of public freedoms and journalism.

Despite the pledges made by the Palestinian Authority to safeguard freedoms, ensure unobstructed journalism, and refrain from arresting individuals for exercising their freedom of expression, journalists continue to face violations. In the first half of 2022, there were a total of 18 Palestinian violations, and although the number has decreased compared to 2021, some violations were serious, such as the torture of journalist Sami Dar Shami, who was summoned by the Preventive Security Service in the city of Nablus and interrogated about his journalistic work. The interrogation was accompanied by mistreatment that amounted to torture, according to the biannual report of MADA.

This investigation was carried out by the Gulf Centre for Human Rights as part of the project to investigate impunity for crimes committed against journalists in the Middle East and North Africa region. Article translated to English by Lamis Alwan on behalf of GCHR.

Photo credit: Palestinian Journalists Syndicate