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8A- Monday, September 10, 2007
The Michigan Daily -- michigandaily.com
8A- Monday, September10, 2007 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom
Promising freedom,
Hamas pressures reporters
Iran
protests
4
Violence, capture
among methods
attempted by Hamas
By STEVEN ERLANGER
The New York Times
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Dur-
ing the first Fatah protest rally at
Friday Prayer here late last month,
a number of Palestinian journal-
ists trying to cover the event were
beaten by the Hamas police force.
Some journalists were arrested
and their cameras seized, prompt-
ing complaints from the Gaza
branch of the Palestinian Journal-
ists Syndicate.
The next night, at about 10 p.m.,
Hamas police officers entered
Sakher Abu El Oun's courtyard,
preparing to arrest him. Abu El
Oun, a reporter for Agence France-
Presse and head of the union here,
telephoned a colleague.
"I called one journalist who sent
out an SMS," he said, referring to
a text message, "and within min-
utes, about 70 journalists and some
human rights activists came to my
house and prevented them from
taking me away. My kids were cry-
ing; it was a very ugly picture."
The police told him, he said,
"that they had instructions to
arrest me, I had refused, and I
would be responsible" for any con-
sequences.
Hamasseems confusedtabout
how to quash Fatah protests and
simultaneously deal with the news
media. Tryingto nurture a reputa-
tion for honesty and legal behav-
ior since they conquered Gaza in
bloody fighting in June, Hamas'
leaders promise journalists free-
dom of action while the police
intimidate them.
The result is a kind of self-cen-
sorship, local journalists say, that
goes beyond what they tradition-
ally practiced under Fatah, which
also tried to pressure, manipulate
or own the Palestinian press.
Abu El Oun, 42, is a good case
in point. The immediate crisis for
him ended when a Hamas govern-
ment spokesman, Taher el-Nou-
nou, a former journalist, arrived
at his house with a message from
the former Hamas prime minister,
Ismail Haniya, telling the police to
leave.
Later, speaking for the union,
Abu El Oun talked about the
broader problems journalists were
facing. "We are asking for the free-
dom to cover the protests," he said.
"They can prevent the demonstra-
tions, but not the right of journal-
ists to cover them. We are under
self-censorship because we don't
know what is allowed, what isn't.
There is no clear policy. All the
journalists are worried, scared."
He has since been asked by his
employer not to speak to journal-
ists.
Ii
r I
m
raqi
a ids
ranian foreign
sinister hints at
ilitaiy response
By JAMES GLANZ
The New York Times
KM. CHAUDARY/AP Photo
Supporters of Pakistan's ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif hold a rally in favor of their former leader with a lion, an
election symbol Sharif used in previous elections, in Lahore, Pakistan last month.
Ex-Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif begins
his voyage home in wake of Supreme Court ruling
i,_
. i?
st ,
By SALMAN MASOOD
The New York Times
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan
- Uncertainty, anticipation
and anxiety gripped Pakistan
as Nawaz Sharif, an opposition
leader and former prime min-
ister, began his trip to return to
the country after seven years in
exile.
Sharif, whose government was
toppled by Pakistan's current
president, Gen. Pervez Mush-
arraf, in a bloodless coup in 1999,
was expected to land at Islam-
abad airport this morning.
He announced that he would
return after the country's
supreme court ruled in late
August that he could. The ruling
came after Musharraf unsuccess-
fully attempted to oust the court's
chief justice.
Sharif's supporters said they
were planning a rousing welcome
for the exiled leader.
The government has indicated
that it plans to thwart their plans
and has warned Sharif not to
return. But it remained unclear
whether the government planned
either to deporthim to Saudi Ara-
bia, where he has spent a great
deal of his time in exile, or to
arrest him.
Sharif reached Heathrow Air-
port in London last night with
many reporters and supporters.
"I'm very excited to be return-
ing after seven years," he said,
before boarding the direct flight
from London to Islamabad.
Asked what kind of reception
he expected in Pakistan, he said,
"I have a mission that is much
more important than any recep-
tion - to restore democracy in
the country and restore the rule
of law. So it is a very noble mis-
sion that I have."
- Carlotta Gall contributed
to this report.
I
SHOW TO GET A
2 NEW PAIR OF WHEELS
BAGHDAD - In a sharp
escalation of a dispute over bor-
der fighting, an official Iranian
delegation at i diplomatic con-
ference here yarned yesterday
that if the ?raqi government
could not step militants from
crossing ints Iran and attack-
ing, the Ianian authorities
would respod militarily.
The Iranan delegation, led
by a deputy foreign minister,
Mohammac R. Baqiri, also
charged thet the United States
was supposting groups believed
to be monting attacks from
Iraqi terriory in the Kurdish
north.
Baqiri did not specifically
say that Itan would enter Iraq
militarily, but his statements,
couched h diplomatic terms,
raised theclear possibility that
Iranian forces could cross the
border in prsuit of the militant
groups. Btt however carefully
phrased hs statements were,
many of those distinctions are
likely to belost on hundreds of
families onthe Iraqi side that
have been diven from their vil-
lages by several weeks of inter-
mittent shellngfrom Iran.
Hundreds >f Kurds demon-
strated yesterday against the
shelling in th northern pro-
vincial capital of Erbil. They
gathered outsie the Kurdish
Parliament builling and asked
that the northemn government
and the United Iations inter-
vene.
Senior Iranianofficials have
privately acknwledged to
their Iraqi courterparts that
the shelling is tcing place in
response to gueruilla attacks by
a group opposedto the Iranian
government.
Later, when aked about the
shelling at a brieing, Baqirisaid
that in dealing with "terrorists
who want to ener.Iranian soil,"
the Iranian government "will
confrontthem and stop them."
"We have s long history
in standing gainst terrorist
groups,":Baqirisaid.
Baqiri's comments are like-
ly to uaise tensions against
the bloody backdrop of the
Iran-Iraq war, which lasted
throughout much of the 1980s
and began with a border dis-
pute in the south. Perhaps by
design, sis words seemed espe-
cially ja-ring because they were
delivered during a conference
intended to promote harmony.
Yesterday, Zebari acknowl-
edged that the cross-border
attacks were indeed taking
place, but described them as
infrequent and more of a nui-
sance than a threat. Still, Zebari
agreed thatit fell to Iraqi lead-
ers to rein i the groups.
"But at the same time we
want this shdling to stop or end
because it's cmusing a great deal
of unease, ad we don't want
to see the atmosphere of con-
fidence to be compromised by
these continuing acts," he said.
The group that has claimed
responsibility for the attacks,
called Pezak or Pejak for its
acronym, is believed to be made
up mainly of Iranian Kurds
seeking autonomy for Kurds in
Iran. Askec specifically about
that group, Baqiri stated pub-
licly what Irnian officials have
been claining privately for
months: tha: the United States
supports thegroup.
A Pentagen spokesman, Lt.
Col. JonathatWithington,said,
"I am not awire of any support
being provide" to Pejak.
-An Iraqi employee
of Tie New York Times
cOntribated to this report.
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