MADA: Second Group of Journalists Beaten in Hebron

        Bethlehem 03 Shafar 1434/16 December 2012 (Ma’an/MINA) — After Reuters cameramen were assaulted by Israeli forces in Hebron this week, a second group of journalists were beaten by troops in the West Bank city, a press freedom group said Saturday.

       On Wednesday, Israeli soldiers punched two Reuters journalists and forced them to strip in the street, before letting off a tear gas canister in front of them, leaving one of them needing hospital treatment.

        A freelance reporter and Al-Quds TV correspondent were also beaten during the incident in Hebron, the Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms, MADA, said.

        The journalists were covering the aftermath of the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Muhammad Salaymeh by an Israeli border guard in the city.

        A day later, four journalists went to cover the ensuing clashes, and were blocked and threatened by an Israeli force near Hebron’s Tareq ben Zaid school, MADA said.

        Associated Press photographer Hazem Bader was detained for 45 minutes by Israeli soldiers, the journalists told MADA.

      “They tied my hands behind my back, beat me on my feet and my back, and cursing me all the time,” Bader said.

        “One of the soldiers tried to fabricate a charge against me that I tried to assault him, but my colleagues of photographers documented the arrest.”

       He was freed when a press office intervened, he said.

       MADA condemned the “escalation of violations” against journalists in Hebron this week. (T/R-012/R-006)

 Mi’raj News Agency (MINA