Press Release from Maan News: Jared Malsin

19 January 2010            ***For immediate release ***

Israel to deport Ma’an journalist at 6:15am Thursday

At 11:30am on Tuesday, Tel Aviv District Judge Kobi Vardi called for a hearing into the deportation against Ma’an journalist Jared Malsin. Following the call, Ma’an lawyer Castro Daoud went to the airport holding facility where Jared has been kept for the past week to give him the news.

Daoud left Jared at 2:30pm and filed a motion with Justice Vardi requesting that Jared be able to leave the country and have the hearings proceed in his absence. Since the Israeli Attorney General’s Office insisted Malsin not be present for his hearing, Daoud argued that it was no longer necessary to keep Malsin cooped up in the airport cell.

At 4:30pm staff from the US Embassy in Tel Aviv notified Malsin’s parents in New Hampshire that he would be on the next flight to Prague, even though Justice Vardi had not ruled on Daoud’s motion to let him travel and still pursue the case.

At 7:30pm Daoud received notification from Justice Vardi that he had received a motion signed by Malsin requesting his deportation order be annulled, and that he be allowed to take the next flight back to Prague.

Justice Vardi has closed the case on Malsin’s deportation order one week after it was filed.

Malsin’s parents have been denied phone access to their son, and US consular staff were unable to communicate when the journalist would board a flight.

Ma’an is concerned that there was no lawyer present when Malsin reportedly filed this independent motion, sent from the Israeli Ministry of the Interior and not his legal representative. Ma’an is equally concerned at the inability of Malsin’s parents or girlfriend to reach him to communicate the situation or get clarification from Malsin as to what happened between 2:30 and 4:30pm on Tuesday.

See the following for more information:

On the reaction of international press associations:
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=254583
On Jared’s fight to overturn the deportation order:
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=254021
On the timeline of Jared’s detention and questioning:
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=254589

For further inquiries, please contact:

George Hale (English)
+972(0)52.785-4907
Raed Othman (Arabic)
+972(0)59.925-8705
Nasser Lahham (Hebrew)
+972(0)59.925-8704

Jared Malsin enters week 2 in detention

Jared Malsin, the American journalist who has been held in Ben Guiron airport now enters his second week in detention. A hearing that was scheduled for 10am on Sunday 17th did not take place. Jared has been kept in a temporary holding cell with no fresh air or windows, and no clean clothes for the duration of that time. His lawyer has been allowed only sporadic access to him, and phonecalls have been limited to his parents.

The Attorney General requested that Judge Kobi Vardi, the judge dealing with Jared’s case, would not hold a hearing, saying Malsin’s presence in court would complicate the Ministry of the Interiors deportation efforts as allowing him to travel to the court and leave the airport requires a change in visa status.

Castro Daoud, Maan Lawyer for Malsin has filed additional information in response to allegations by the Israeli Attorney General’s Office, and insisted that Jared be brought out of the airport to attend a hearing on the matter.

According to court documents filed on Thursday evening, signed by an Israeli interrogator, Malsin was denied entry for “refusing to cooperate” and for violating visa terms.

Disturbingly, the documents also reveal that interrogators had gathered online research into the journalist’s writing history, which transcripts indicate included news stories “criticizing the State of Israel,” among other allegations he authored articles “inside the [Palestinian] territories.”

Jared’s case is becoming increasingly urgent. Now is the time to put pressure on the Israeli Minstry of the Interior to allow for the hearing to go ahead, in Malsin’s presence. Please immediately contact the Israeli embassy in your area, the US consulate in Tel Aviv (+97 35 19 74 75) expressing your concerns around the case of this US citizen, or contact your department for foreign affairs and ask them to in turn put pressure on the Israeli authorities to guarantee a fair hearing for Jared, and his release ack into Israel.

In Ireland:

Micheál Martin

Minister for Foreign Affairs

michealmartintd@eircom.net

(021) 4320088 [Cork]
(01) 6312333 [Dublin]

The case of Jared Malsin and Faith Rowold

Jared Malsin has been working for the past two years for the non-profit news agency, Ma’an News, based in Bethlehem. According to a UNESCO statement released this week, “Ma’an is an editorially independent and pluralistic Palestinian news agency,” which “promotes freedom of expression, access to information and development of the Palestinian society.”

Jared’s partner Faith had been a volunteer with the Lutheran Church in Jerusalem.

Both were detained on 12 January, returning from a holiday in Prague. Malsin remains in detention in Tel Aviv airport, while Rowold has already been deported back to Prague and is waiting there for news on her case.

This is not a new story, it has happened before to dozens of EU and US nationals.

Jared’s detention is ongoing as of Sunday 17th of January. He has remained in a windowless room, with extremely limited access to his lawyer for this duration. A hearing, which was scheduled for 10am on the 17th did not take place and there is no confirmation that it will in fact take place.

Welcome to Censorship Watch

Welcome to Censorship Watch. This blog was set up as platform for reports and coverage of the Israeli State’s ongoing assault on freedom of the press, freedom of speech and freedom of protest within Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories that may not be reaching the mainstream media.

Censorship, through arbitrary legal attacks, detentions, deportations, blatant intimidation and various other more subtle methods is ongoing within Israel and the OPT and is widely reported by NGOs, civil society groups, alternative media forums, civilians, activists and journalists.

In particular the blog was inspired by the detention of a US journalist, Jared Malsin, of Maan News and his ongoing struggles to defer deportation. You will find links to media coverage of this case, as well as suggested actions which can be taken further on.

Please share this blog with others, and feel free to follow some of the suggested actions listed in the case of specific ongoing campaigns.