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Israel: Journalist Bushra Al-Tawil arbitrarily detained for the fifth time by Israeli authorities.

November 10, 2020, East bank, Occupied Territories— Israeli authorities arrested journalist Bushra Al-Tawil yesterday while she was passing through a bridge checkpoint. Without legal grounds, the journalist was apprehended and moved to an undisclosed location. This is the fifth time Bushra has been detained by Israeli authorities. The Coalition For Women In Journalism is dismayed by the constant targeting of women journalists by Israeli authorities.

Journalist Bushra Al-Tawil was arrested yesterday at an Israeli checkpoint. Bushra had been released in July 2020, after spending eight months in an Israeli prison. This incident marks her fifth arrest. She is 27 years old, having spent two and a half of those years in arbitrary detention.

According to the Palestinian Center for Media, Bushra was arrested for the first time in 2011, while still in high school, and was sentenced to 16 months in jail. She was released as part of a captive-exchange deal later that year. In 2014, she was arrested again and sentenced to ten months, which she served in full. In 2017, she was detained again and served eight months. She was put in jail yet again in December 2019 and released in July 2020. In the past nine years, Bushra has served two and a half years in jail time; she battles constant intimidation from Israeli authorities.

Upon her first release from prison in 2011, Bushra started to study journalism. She subsequently founded a news network named “Aneen ALQeed” to cover and discuss captives— to shed light on their cases and how their families are suffering. She reserves a special place for the issues of female captives and their status in Israeli prisons.

This is the second infringement of press freedom by Israeli authorities that the CFWIJ has documented in less than a week in the Occupied Territories. Bushra’s detention, following the summoning of journalist Christina Rinawi for interrogation, is raising a red flag about the conduct of Israeli authorities and the constant intimidation and targeting of women journalists.

The Coalition For Women In Journalism is alarmed by the constant infringement of press freedom by Israeli authorities and we urge them to reveal Bushra's location and release her immediately.

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The Coalition For Women In Journalism is a global organization of support for women journalists. The CFWIJ pioneered mentorship for mid-career women journalists across several countries around the world, and is the first organization to focus on the status of free press for women journalists. We thoroughly document cases of any form of abuse against women in any part of the globe. Our system of individuals and organizations brings together the experience and mentorship necessary to help female career journalists navigate the industry. Our goal is to help develop a strong mechanism where women journalists can work safely and thrive.

Follow us on Instagram @womeninjournalism and Twitter @CFWIJ. Our website is WomenInJournalism.org and we can be reached at press@womeninjournalism.org

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