Press Institutions Urge Secure Release of Palestinian Journalists amid Coronavirus

By Staff, Agencies

More than a dozen press institutions have appealed to United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet to pressure the Zionist regime to release Palestinian journalists being held in ‘Israeli’ occupation prisons and detention centers amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The eighteen institutions, in a letter addressed to the Chilean politician on Monday, expressed great concern over the increasing cases of infection with the novel coronavirus in the Zionist entity and the ‘Israeli’-occupied Palestinian territories, warning that they fear the deadly disease could afflict thousands of Palestinian inmates, including journalists, in ‘Israeli’ prisons.

The institutions noted that Palestinian prisoners’ lives are at risk in the Zionist jails in light of COVID-19 pandemic since the prisons lack basic medical equipment and prevalent medical negligence has claimed the lives of dozens of the detainees in the past years.

They finally urged the UNHCR and the international community to take proper measures aimed at releasing the detainees from Zionist prisons amid the coronavirus outbreak, and compel the ‘Israel’ Prison Service [IPS] to provide access to detention facilities and abide by the rules of the international law, particularly Article 3 and 4 of the Geneva Conventions.

Turkey’s official Anadolu news agency, citing a statement by Deputy of Palestinian Journalist Syndicate Tahseen al-Astal, reported on April 17 that at least 13 journalists are currently being held in ‘Israeli’ prisons.

The Palestinian journalists are held in detention so that they could not cover crimes of ‘Israeli’ occupation soldiers against Palestinian people.