Israel’s state prosecution filed three charges against Palestinian sports journalist Saeed Hasanein on Wednesday, following a weeks-long detention over a television interview he had given.
Hassanein, a resident of the Galilee city of Shefa-Amr, has been charged with “contact with a foreign agent”, “showing solidarity with a terrorist organisation” and “destroying evidence”.
The journalist, 62, was arrested in late February after giving an interview with the Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa television.
“Contact with members of the channel is therefore considered contact with a foreign agent,” the indictment read. It alleged that Hasanein “spoke words of praise, sympathy, support, and solidarity with Hamas, justifying and praising its actions, repeating the narrative propagated by Hamas, and conveying messages to Arabs in Israel,” likely in reference to his remarks on the “humane treatment” of Israeli captives in Gaza, as compared to Israel’s treatment of Palestinians. Elsewhere, it made mention of the journalist’s “praise, sympathy and support” for Hezbollah and its slain leader Hassan Nasrallah.
The indictment also highlighted of Hasanein’s criticism of Palestinian citizens of Israel who join the country’s military.
The charge of “destroying evidence” relates to “destroying the phone he used to communicate with al-Aqsa TV,” the indictment says.
The Israeli State Prosecutor’s office demanded that Hasanein remain in custody until the end of proceedings, claiming that he poses “potential harm to state security”.
Along with his arrest, Hasanein has become the subject of an intense campaign in the Israeli media and public, which has vilified the Palestinian journalist.
After a demand from Minister of Culture Sports Miki Zohar for Hasanein to be dismissed from his role as an announcer for Bnei Sakhin football club, the team said it had summoned the journalist for a hearing. It later said it had terminated his role as an announcer.
The Arab Center for Media Freedom, Development and Research (I’LAM) condemned Saeed’s arrest, describing it as a “dangerous escalation in the targeting of journalists in general, and Arab journalists in particular, and a restriction on press freedom in the country.”
I’LAM said it had documented 96 violations against Palestinian journalists in Israel since October 2023, including arrests, investigations, confiscation of equipment and withdrawal of press cards.
