(Mohammed Omer (right) receiving the 2007 Martha Gellhorn Journalism Prize along with journalist Dahr Jamail (left). They are joined in the photo by journalist John Pilger, a member of the Prize’s judges panel. Photo: Paul de Rooij.)
A year ago today Palestinian journalist Mohammed Omer was trying to return home to Gaza after being in London to accept the Martha Gellhorn Journalism Prize. When he was tried to enter Israel/Palestine from the the Allenby Bridge Crossing between Jordan and the West Bank, he was detained, interrogated and tortured by the Shin Bet, the Israeli internal security service.
While there was some reporting of Omer’s torture at the time (most notably this amazing piece by Gideon Levy – read it!) for the most part it was ignored, or misreported. Today, Omer has written an article about his experience and the media coverage surrounding it entitled, “A Journalist Beaten — One Year Later.”
As a side note I should add that I had the distinct pleasure of meeting Mohammed during one of his speaking tours through the US. I was amazed at his calm, his gentleness and his amazing compassion given all that had endured living in Gaza. I knew I would not be able to respond the same way if I were in his position. I also remember reading the Gideon Levy article above around a year ago in the Ha’aretz weekend section as I was sitting on a plane leaving the Ben Gurion Airport. The story of the disgusting, racist and inhumane Israeli treatment of Omer devastated me then as is it still does now. If you want to know why Israel is becoming a pariah state in the eyes of the world, you don’t have to look any further than this story.
Here is one passage from Mohammed Omer’s article, but I encourage you read the entire piece:
Confronted with the medical reports and injuries including bruised ribs Israeli officials told the BBC on July 1, 2008 that, “He lost balance and fell, for reasons unknown to us,” other officers suggest, “Mr. Omer had a nervous breakdown due to the high temperature.”
Despite the attempts at denials, the emergency medical technician who sat in the back of the ambulance with me reported, “We noted fingerprints on his neck and chest,” the type bruising caused by excessive force often used in forensics to identify an attacker.
When Associated Press reporter Karin Laub called me on my cell phone for an interview after my ordeal, I detailed how I was stripped and held at gunpoint. Her reply? “Go on,” she stated. “This is normal about what we hear happening at Ben Gurion Airport . It’s nothing new.”
Torture, strip searches and holding award winning journalists or any other human beings at gun point is normal at Israel ’s largest airport? Ms. Laub’s apathy continued. In her article for the Associated Press on June 29th she wrote that she interviewed “Dr. Husseini who claims there were no signs of physical trauma.”
There’s only one problem with this. This Dr. Husseini never treated me. The Minister of Health in Ramallah confirmed that Husseini never made any such statement to the AP reporter. For reasons known only to her, Ms. Laub appears to have fabricated this comment and purposely ignored the medical reports and the statements by the attending paramedics — counter to journalistic ethics and standards upheld by the Associated Press. Despite this, no independent investigation toke place.
Meanwhile the Jerusalem correspondent for the Los Angles Times, Ashraf Khalil, conducted an investigation into my case and noted in his article on November 3, 2008, that my medical records describe: “Tenderness on the anterior part of the neck and upper back mainly along the right ribs moderate to severe pain,” and “by examination the scrotum due to pain varicocele (varicose veins in the spermatic cord) at left side detected and surgery was decided later.” Fevers and falls do not cause such distinctive marks. Kicks, punches and beatings do. Continuing Khalil explains that, “Paramedic Mahmoud Tararya arrived in a Palestinian Red Crescent Society ambulance and said he found Omer semiconscious with bruises on his neck and chest. Tararya said Israeli security officers were asking Omer to sign “some sort of form written in Hebrew. The paramedic said he intervened, separated Omer from the soldiers and loaded him into the ambulance, where he remained semiconscious for most of the trip to a hospital.”
