Ref: 116/2009
Date: 12 November 2009
Time: 10:00 GMT


On Tuesday, 10 November 2009, Palestinian security services stormed the offices of Ramattan News Agency in Gaza and banned a press conference organized by the National Action Commission. The press conference had been organized to publicize the cancellation of an event commemorating President Arafat’s anniversary. The Gaza government claimed that the event was unlicensed. This measure was taken in the context of a series of measures taken by the Gaza Government to prevent the commemoration of the fifth anniversary of the death of late President Yasser Arafat on 11 November. The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) expresses deep concerns over such measures, and stresses that the right to freedom of opinion and expression and the right to peaceful assembly are basic human rights that are ensured by the Palestinian Basic Law and international human rights instruments.

According to investigations conducted by PCHR, at approximately 19:00 on Tuesday, 10 November 2009, members of the police investigation bureau and the Internal Security Service, who were armed and wearing civilian clothes, broke into the offices of Ramattan News Agency in Shawa and Hussari Building in the center of Gaza City. They prevented a press conference organized by the National Action Commission in Gaza City to publicize the Gaza government’s cancellation of a ceremony that was supposed to be held in Rashad al-Shawa Center on Wednesday, 11 November 2009, in commemoration of the death of the late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat. The security officers claimed that the conference was unlicensed. They also confiscated recording tapes belonging to Ramattan News Agency and al-Quds Television and ordered members of the National Action Commission to leave the offices.

Head of the National Action Commission in Gaza City, Khaled Ahmed Abu Sharekh, stated to PCHR that:

"A press conference for the National Action Commission was supposed to be held in offices of Ramattan News Agency to declare the cancellation of a ceremony that was expected to be held in Rashad al-Shawa Center in Gaza City on the fifth anniversary of the death of Abu Ammar. The ceremony was cancelled because of the arrest campaign waged by the government against national activists… While we were in offices of Ramattan and before the beginning of the press conference we were surprised by a number of persons wearing civilian clothes entering the offices. They introduced themselves as members of the police investigation bureau and the Internal Security Services. They requested us to show a license to hold the press conference. I told them that we did not know that holding the conference needed a license. They ordered us to leave. They took our names and confiscated recording tapes from journalists."

In a press release issued on Wednesday, 12 November 2009, Ramattan News Agency announced the closure of all of its offices throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory pending a further notice. The news agency stated that "this step came following accumulative factors relevant to violations of the law, freedom of expression and press, and harassments against Ramattan, which peaked with the illegal storming of its offices on Tuesday evening, 10 November 2009, by a unit of the Internal Security Services of the dismissed government in Gaza, and preventing the National Action Commission in Gaza from holding a press conference… Ramattan points out that what happened yesterday had been the first time for offices of Ramattan to be stormed (by force) by a security force since its establishment 10 years ago."

Since Monday, 09 November 2009, security services in the Gaza Strip have sent summoning notices to scores of activists and leaders of Fatah movement in the Gaza Strip. The summoned persons were questioned about their preparations for the commemoration of the death of President Yasser Arafat, and were then released.

In a statement holding number 133, issued on 10 November 2009, the government stated that it did not receive any official application from the Fatah movement to organize activities for this occasion in the Gaza Strip.

In light of the above:

1. PCHR condemns the raid on the offices of Ramattan News Agency, which constitutes an assault against the right to freedom of expression and press freedoms, and calls for providing protection for journalists and media institutions and taking necessary measures to allow them to work freely to enforce the right to freedom of expression and press freedoms.

2. PCHR expresses concerns over measures taken by security services in the Gaza Strip to prevent the commemoration of the death of President Yasser Arafat.

3. PCHR emphasizes that the holding of press conferences does not require any license from any governmental body, and that organizing public meetings requires only informing relevant authorities and not applying for licenses from them, in accordance with the Public Meetings Law of 1998, and stresses that the rights to freedom of opinion and expression and the right to peaceful assembly are ensured by the constitution.

4. PCHR asserts that the Executive Bill of the Public Meetings Law issued by the late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, in his capacity as Minister of Interior, contradicts with the word and spirit of the Public Meetings Law and the Amended Basic Law, and PCHR reiterates its call for abolishing or amending it to be in conformity with the law.