Palestinian Territories: The Israeli army's arrest of researcher "Yasser Manna" is part of its strategy to restrict freedom of opinion and expression

Skyline International for Human Rights condemns the arrest of Palestinian researcher and writer "Yasser Manna" by the Israeli army, viewing it as a continuation of the Israeli authorities' campaign on Palestinians to restrict press freedom and muzzle dissent voices.

Monday, Skyline states that an Israeli army force detained Yasser Manna, a researcher on Israeli affairs, while he was going through the Za'tara checkpoint south of Nablus.

Manna (34), a researcher at the Jerusalem Center for Studies on Israeli Affairs, has previously been arrested several times and spent five years in Israeli prisons before being released in 2021. Manaa has also previously been detained in Palestinian Authority prisons.

According to Skyline, Manna's detention is related to an increase in Israeli attacks on Palestinian media professionals and opinion makers. Sticks, kicks, and shoves were used to try to run over some of them and strangle a journalist who was reporting on the Israel occupation forces (IOF) and settlers' abuses of in the West Bank and Jerusalem.

During the same month, Israeli forces arrested, detained, or summoned and interrogated five journalists, forcing them not to cover the army's violations. They arrested journalist "Mohammed Badr" and media writer "Osama Al-Aissa," and detained photographers "Wahba Makiya" and "Maher Haroun." . They also arrested Raeda al-Julani, the journalist, who was released under the terms of house detention and a prohibition on direct communication or communication via social media.

Skyline believes that these arrests and the unjustified attacks and persecution preceding them, are a flagrant violation of the legal principles that safeguard freedom of expression, opinion, and journalism.

Skyline concludes its statement by emphasizing that the international community's silence regarding Israeli forces' violations of the right to freedom of expression, opinion, and journalism preluded for more violations and increased the likelihood that Israeli perpetrators would go unpunished.