GENEVA, April 9, 2018 (WAFA) –The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor (Euro-Med) urged on Sunday the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, David Kay, to investigate Israel’s targeting of Palestinian journalists at the Gaza borders.
In an urgent letter to Kay, Euro-Med called for an urgent international investigation into the killing of 30-year-old Yasser Murtaja, a Palestinian journalist and father of a child, while covering Friday‘s demonstrations at the Gaza border. Murtaja was shot even though he was wearing a press vest.
Four UN experts, including the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression, had issued an urgent statement regarding the protests in Gaza, stressing that “International law sets strict prohibitions on the use of force by law enforcement officials.”
Although the organizers stressed that the protests are non-violent, Israeli snipers killed 20 demonstrators in the first Friday of protests and another 10 in the second Friday “who posed no immediate threat to the soldiers” and injured more than 2000 others, the letter said.
The letter further called for “necessary action and for rais[ing] the issue with the Israeli Government to end [the latter’s] violations against Palestinians in Gaza, to immediately lift the siege, and to allow Palestinians to express their opinion without threat, killing or intimidation.”
The letter also expressed hope for “prompt action by contacting the Israeli authorities so that they make sure civilians are not harmed while practicing their right to peaceful protest and assembly.”
Earlier, Euro-Med Monitor sent letters to a number of international officials calling on them to work to ensure the safety of Palestinian protesters on the borders of the Gaza Strip and to discuss with the concerned countries ways to overcome the crisis while preserving the right of Palestinians in Gaza to peacefully protest the crippling blockade and the closure of crossings by Israel and Egypt to and out the coastal enclave.
M.K.
