The saga of the detained journalist continues:

Ma'an is pleased to share news that Tel Aviv District Judge Mirium Solokov agreed to hear the case of its chief English editor, Jared Malsin, during proceedings held at her court on Thursday morning.


Solokov rejected a request by the Israeli attorney general to dismiss an injunction filed by Ma'an that would temporarily prevent Malsin's impending expulsion. Setting a hearing for Sunday, Solokov asked both sides to gather additional information.

Malsin, an American citizen, was originally detained upon arrival at Ben Gurion International Airport on Tuesday, 12 January 2009. He was held along with his girlfriend, Lutheran Church volunteer Faith Rowold, who was deported early Thursday morning.

Since he was detained, Malsin has been denied contact with anyone but a consular representative and his lawyer, who has been permitted to visit just once and for less than 20 minutes. According to the attorney, Carlos Daoud, ever since the judge accepted Malsin's case, new obstacles have been put in place to prevent him from seeing his client.

More than 48 hours after he was first detained, Malsin is still being denied access to any of his belongings. He was not been given a change of clothes, toiletries, or offered the chance to shower. "I have nothing," he said during a visit to his detention cell by a US consular official on Thursday afternoon. "I don't even have a pen or paper, not even a book."

While Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev has described as "absurd" multiple reports that Malsin's detention was linked to his position as a professional journalist, documents filed by the attorney general suggest otherwise. Indeed, the official explanation filed by the country's own immigration department cited news stories Malsin had authored "inside the territories," and "criticizing the State of Israel."

The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, the Committee to Protect Journalists, Reporters Without Borders, and the International Press Institute have all issued public statements condemning Israel's decision to detain Malsin, and have urged his unconditional release.

Dutch officials, whose government provided some of Ma'an's initial funding in 2005, expressed concern and are monitoring the situation. US consular staff continue to closely monitor the case and have contacted Israeli officials over the incident. Dozens of government representatives in Palestine have privately contacted Ma'an to express their own concerns, indicating they may try to take action.

Ma'an scrupulously maintains its editorial independence and aims to promote access to information, freedom of expression, press freedom, and media pluralism in Palestine. It has no other agenda. Israel's arbitrary detention of the head of its English Desk is an affront to journalists not only in Palestine, but also in Israel and abroad, who rely on Ma'an for its accuracy, impartiality, and independence.

For more information please contact

George Hale (English) +972(0)52.785-4907 Raed Othman (Arabic) +972(0)59.925-8704

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=253864 For a timeline of the detention

Soraya sends us this:

Ma'an News Agency, the largest independent news network in the Palestinian territories, is deeply concerned that its chief English editor, Jared Malsin, an American citizen, was detained upon arrival at Israel's Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv on the afternoon of Tuesday, 12 January 2009. He is slated for deportation to Prague at 6:05 am on Thursday, 14 January 2010.

Israeli security agents have prevented him from taking calls, and lied to concerned US consular staff, initially denying that he was being held. In what can only be explained as a retaliatory measure for his reporting on Palestine, Malsin's long-term partner, Faith Rowold, a two-year, registered volunteer with the Lutheran Church in Jerusalem, was also placed in a holding cell pending deportation.

US Embassy staff have inquired into the incident with Israeli representatives, and are collecting information ahead of a possible complaint. Dutch officials, whose government provided some of Ma'an's initial funding, expressed similar concern.

But diplomats say there is little they can do when Israel cites "security reasons" for the denial of entry, although Israel has yet to specify any allegations. Israeli security officials, meanwhile, have quietly expressed concern to Ma'an over this latest exercise of power at the Interior Ministry.

Ma'an scrupulously maintains its editorial independence and aims to promote access to information, freedom of expression, press freedom, and media pluralism in Palestine. It has no other agenda. Israel's arbitrary detention of the head of its English Desk is an affront to journalists not only in Palestine, but also in Israel and abroad, who rely on Ma'an for its accuracy, impartiality, and independence.

For more information, including a detailed timeline of the past 24 hours' events, please visit:
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=253864

For further comment, please contact:

George Hale (English)
+972(0)52.785-4907

Raed Othman (Arabic)
+972(0)59.925-8704

Hakim Abdul Salah (Hebrew)
+972(0)59.895-1151

On Nov. 18, two Iranian Internet activists, Ali Behzadian Nejad and Omid Lavassani, were sentenced to six years in prison. Their crimes? Mr. Lavassani had the audacity to design a Web site for the leading opposition figure Mir Hossein Mousavi. Mr. Nejad is being jailed for "published comments" written by others on his blog, and "propaganda against the system."

Iranian laws about the Web are purposely kept vague. Ahmed Batebi, the dissident who recently escaped Tehran after eight years in prison, told me that "The regime can arrest people and bloggers for any reason precisely because the laws are not clear."

A journalist in the city of Yazd recently reported several cases of bloggers being shut down or involved in lawsuits due to readers' comments. And on Nov. 14, local Iranian press reported that a new police unit was formed to fight "insults and the spreading of lies" on the Internet—another phrase which effectively bans any criticism of the regime.

The first enemy of any suppressive regime is information. That is why governments suppress information, particularly on the internet.

In an age when record numbers of citizens are being imprisoned or threatened for what they write on the internet a new website was launched on November 3 called Threatened Voices, (http://www.threatened.globalvoicesonline.org/). It is an on line, interactive tool that maps incidents of government suppression against bloggers.

The aim of the website is to counter the suppression that the government in question is enforcing against a blogger. By categorizing a blogger or social media user as: under arrest, threatened, deceased, released, or unknown, the site is giving a voice to an otherwise suppressed blogger. Reports of incidents have so far been made by associates of the suppressed blogger.

Journalists and bloggers from the across the Middle East and the West will gather on 11 May 2010 for the 6th International Media Awards ceremony. The awards were founded by The Next Century Foundation which works principally to support peace initiatives across the Middle East.

The Next Century Foundation established the awards in 2005 to publically recognise journalists whose work has contributed to a better understanding of conflict zones, in particular the Arab/Israeli conflict, and of the Middle East region as a whole. The awards recognise the work of journalists whose high standards of analysis and reporting have helped to break down barriers and promote understanding. They also recognise the efforts and courage of individual journalists and bloggers, who are often placed at risk when reporting stories from areas of conflict or political repression.

If you have a blogger or journalist that you would like to nominate for an award please send your nomination to ncfpeace@aol.com .