SALON

Sunday, Feb 10, 2013 9:15 PM UTC

Israeli troops detain AP photographer

By

Topics: From the Wires,

Israeli troops detain AP photographerIn this Saturday Feb. 9, 2013 photo, Israeli security detain The Associated Press photographer Nasser Shiyoukhi during a Palestinian protest in Yatta, West Bank (AP Photo)

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli troops detained an Associated Press photographer during West Bank unrest over the weekend, handcuffing him and forcing him to sit on the ground without food or water or access to a bathroom for roughly five hours, according to eyewitness accounts.

The photographer, Nasser Shiyoukhi, was released without charge after Saturday’s incident.

Footage of the incident shows Shiyoukhi, 46, snapping pictures a short distance from Israeli security forces who were scuffling with a protester in the town of Yatta. Protesters had erected a small tent camp on what they say is Palestinian land occupied by Israelis.

An Israeli security man is seen grabbing Shiyoukhi from behind. When he tried to free himself, other Israeli forces also grabbed Shiyoukhi and led him away. In the footage, other Palestinian journalists, including a TV cameraman and reporter holding a microphone, continued to cover the incident without being detained.

“The minute we took pictures, they just grabbed me,” Shiyoukhi said. “They didn’t say it was a closed area.”

Israeli Defense Forces said, however, that the military did declare the area a closed military zone because security forces were seeking to prevent the building of an illegal settlement. “Similar to other such cases, the press corps was asked to maintain a certain perimeter,” the military said in an emailed statement. “Unlike many of the other reporters, the photographer in question chose to ignore security personnel instructions, impeding their (the security forces) ability to carry out their mission. As a result, he was apprehended and investigated nearby.”

Another journalist said the soldiers, when asked for the standard document declaring an area closed, did not produce it.

John Daniszewski, the AP’s vice president and senior managing editor for international news, called on the government to investigate the incident.

“We see no reason to forcibly detain a properly accredited news photographer doing his work,” Daniszewski said in a statement. “Further, we cannot excuse the harsh treatment after his detention. We call on the government to investigate thoroughly and take appropriate steps so that such incidents will not be repeated in the future.”

The Foreign Press Association, which represents international news organizations covering Israel and the Palestinian territories, condemned the violence and called for an investigation.

“This is the latest in a string of incidents involving heavy-handed tactics against journalists who were merely trying to do their jobs,” the association said in a statement.

The statement said there have been 10 times in the past year where Israeli forces allegedly used unnecessary force against journalists. The association said just two of the cases were being formally investigated, but the probes remain open.

More By Josef Federman.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 0 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

vote
Paul Krugman’s right: Austerity kills. "In an economy where we’re all in the same boat, one person’s spending is another person’s income. So when the government cuts spending, it reduces people’s income, leading to less business, more unemployment, and a vicious spiral of slowing down the economy."
368 points369 points | 325 comments
vote
FBI reportedly joins Bachmann campaign finance probe
266 points267 points | 26 comments
vote
Jon Karl makes things worse: He regrets “inaccurate” Benghazi email but says his story based on it “still entirely stands.” Really. ABC News?
228 points229 points | 32 comments
vote
Austerity Kills: Brian McArdle, a 57-year-old man who had had two strokes and could barely walk, was found "fit for work" by a government subcontractor, and had his benefits stopped. He died the next day.
113 points114 points | 15 comments
vote
“Jodorowsky’s Dune”: The sci-fi classic that never was.
85 points86 points | 16 comments

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations