23 violations on journalists covering Daqamseh story — CDFJ report

AMMAN — The Centre for Defending Freedom of Journalists (CDFJ) registered 23 violations against 26 journalists and photojournalists, during their coverage of  stories related to Ahmad Daqamseh, the soldier who killed seven Israeli girls in 1997, according to a CDFJ statement issued on Wednesday.  

Daqamseh was released earlier this month after serving 20 years in prison for shooting dead seven Israeli schoolgirls and injuring five others in the Baqoura area, on the Jordanian-Israeli border. 

Daqamseh, then 26, was deemed mentally unstable by a military court, but, nevertheless, was sentenced to life in prison.

Security institutions’ violations against journalists included 26 bans of event coverage, four “attacks on work tools”, as well as two violations by confiscating said tools, in addition to one case of “arbitrary restriction of freedom”, according to the CDFJ.

The centre said these violations were documented in cooperation with journalists who said they had been banned from covering the event, and provided reports of their experience along with photos, videos and audio recordings. 

Restricting journalists from covering the event was a violation against the freedoms of opinion, expression and media, essential rights in journalists’ work, the centre stated.

The CDFJ said that obstructing journalists from covering events was a plain violation to the Constitution, laws and human right agreements endorsed by the Kingdom and published on the Official Gazette.