Meet the journalist suffering from cancer that Hamas wanted to imprison

Abu Samra's was in Jordan for medical treatment for cancer, when she was charged in absentia by Hamas. Today, the Gaza-based movement bowed to pressure and pardoned Abu Samra.

Society

3 min read

Diana Alghoul

17 September, 2017

Hajar Mohammed Abu Samra [Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedom]

After much anger and pressure, the Hamas authority in Gaza has suspended charges against a cancer-stricken journalist for "incitement and libel", after she was tried in absentia as she underwent medical treatment in Jordan.

Before her cancer diagnosis, Palestinian journalist Hajar Mohammed Abu Samra reported on alleged corruption in Gaza's healthcare system.

Her investigation was aired on Araby Today TV network in June last year, which was branded an important breakthrough in uncovering alleged corruption inside Gaza's ministry of health medical referrals department - which is run by Hamas.

In August, the Gaza Magistrate Court sentenced Abu Samra - also known as Hajar Harb - to six months in prison and given a fine of 1,000 shekels ($284) over her report.

She was among several Palestinian journalists who have faced pressure for investigative reports into alleged abuses by authorities in Gaza.

Her work was disregarded by some as fake. Last July, the doctor accused of selling fake medical by Harb filed an official complaint against the journalist. The doctor had accused her of "defamation, slander and vilification".

After her cancer diagnosis, she left for Jordan to receive medical treatment. To her surprise, Harb was then charged in absentia on 4 June 2016.

Her lawyer Mirvat al-Nahal urged that the court's ruling against Abu Samra was in fact illegal.

"According to Article 403 of the (Penal Code), the sentence should not be imposed on my client because of her health conditions, since she is currently abroad for treatment," Nahal told rights group, the Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedom (MADA).

"MADA expresses its deep concern of this ruling that is considered a very serious precedent against media freedoms, freedom of expression and the role of the press in Palestine. It sees this as another setback to the growing repression of media freedoms."

Last month, Amnsty International warned that the crackdown on Palestinian freedom of expression had reached "dangerous escalation", criticising both the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank and Gaza-based Hamas for their crackdown on dissent.

"The last few months have seen a sharp escalation in attacks on journalists and the media by the Palestinian authorities in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza in a bid to silence dissent," said Magdalena Mughrabi, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Amnesty International.

Both Hamas and the PA continue to crackdown on human rights and press freedoms in areas under their control.

With the increase in arrests against dissineters in the West Bank and Gaza, Palestinians continue to suffer not just at the hands of the Israeli occupation, but also by the rival authorities.