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World Jewish News
2 Arabs who broke IDF censorship jailed
14.06.2009
Two Arab journalists charged with passing secret information to the enemy by breaking IDF censorship during Operation Cast Lead were sentenced to two months in jail on Sunday at the Jerusalem District Court.
The incident occurred during a broadcast on Iran's Al-Alam Arabic-language satellite TV channel on January 3, the day IDF ground forces entered the Gaza Strip.
The two east Jerusalem residents, Hadir Shaheen 34, and producer Mohammed Sarhan, 26, work for the Ramallah-based PMCC production company, which provides media services for Al-Alam.
The two were reporting from the Israeli side of the Gaza border when they noticed IDF forces preparing for the ground incursion.
The two began a live broadcast detailing the troops' movements, even though they knew that the information had not yet been cleared by the military censor and that it could harm the operation.
The detailed reports were then broadcast in Iran as well as on Arabic satellite stations, including ones available in the Gaza Strip, which put the lives of IDF soldiers at risk, police said.
In addition to the jail time, the reporters were given an 18-month suspended sentence.
The two denied the charges and said they planned to appeal the sentence, which was delayed by six weeks to allow them time to do so.
Shaheen and Sarhan claimed they were broadcasting content that was available on other media outlets at the time.
By JPOST.COM STAFF AND ETGAR LEFKOVITS
Источник: JPost.com
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