Unidentified unmasked armed men driving a Hyundai car kidnapped Sha’ban Mahmoud Sha’ban Mima, an Al Arabiya and MBC Channel photographer in Gaza.
Mima, 40, is a resident of As-Seikh Radwan neighborhood in the North Gaza district.
They ordered him at gunpoint to hand over the keys of the broadcast car of the channel.
He was released after an hour and the car was confiscated.
In his affidavit to Al Mezan, Mima stated that at approximately 6:30 pm on Wednesday, 13 November 2013, while he was in his home, his niece told him that there were people downstairs that wanted to talk to him.
He went downstairs to find four unmasked armed men with beards in a silver Hyundai Verna car, which was with tinted glass windows and without a license plate.
One of them asked him to get into the car, saying that they wanted to speak with him; he refused to enter the car, so one of them pushed him into the car and surrounded him on both sides with two in the front.
They held him at gunpoint.
Mima’s mobile phone was taken after which the men proceeded to ask him many questions about his work, including about his salary.
One of them asked him about the broadcast car key, which he said was not with him.
One of them said “we know that you have a copy in your house”, he said “yes”.
They asked him to call one of his relatives on speakerphone who was in the house and to tell him to bring the key down.
The car then stopped near the general security office in As-Siekh Radwan neighborhood in north of Gaza City.
He called someone in the house and asked them to bring down the keys.
After a few minutes, someone showed up and handed over the key.
His head was covered with a cloth bag, and the car moved on.
After a while, the bag was lifted from his head and he found himself in At-Toffah neighborhood in front of the broadcast car.
There they confiscated the car and drove it away.
The armed men’s car moved to the west until they reached Al Ghefari cross road in Al Jalaa’ street, where he was released.
He asked them “what should I tell people if they asked me about what happened to me?” One of them said “tell them exactly what happened with you”.
He called Islam Abdel Kareem, the office director of the channel, and told him what happened, and he quickly came and took him directly to the police station to file a complaint there.
Al Mezan expresses its strong condemnation of the incident, which is considered a serious violation against media workers and free speech in the Gaza Strip.
The incident brings reminders of the corrupt security bodies that prevailed the Strip for years.
The center calls upon the government and the competent authorities in Gaza to work on revealing the circumstances of this crime and bringing justice.
Al Mezan welcomes the decision of the Minister Ismail Haniyeh to reopen Ma’an office in Gaza and asks him to take the same procedure with Al Arabiya channel, and to take all measures to prevent the closure of the media offices except in accordance with the determinants of Palestinian law.
End