Award-winning Palestinian reporter tortured by Israeli security officers
July 5, 2008 8:05 am Mohammed Omer's Ordeal, Israeli-Palestinian conflictThe Dutch Foreign Minister, Maxime Verhagen, has officially complained to Israel after accusations by an award-winning Palestinian journalist from Gaza that he was abused during almost four hours of detention at the border with Jordan.
Mohammed Omer, 24, says that he was manhandled and strip-searched and fainted during interrogation when he returned from a Dutch government-facilitated trip to London to collect a prestigious British journalism award, the Martha Gellhorn Prize.
Mr Omer, who is now in hospital in the southern Gaza town of Khan Yunis with suspected cracked ribs after the incident on Thursday last week, was a joint winner of the prize for his reporting from the Strip.
Mr Omer said yesterday that he was ordered to strip down to his underwear and when he protested at being forced to remove his underpants a security officer “snatched” them off him. He said he later fainted and awoke to find a security official applying pressure to his upper chest. He said he vomited several times and two officers later dragged him by his legs to another location. His requests to contact the Dutch escort were rejected, he said.