GAZA, Sept 11 (Reuters) - Hamas forces in Gaza held a local journalist overnight before freeing him on Tuesday, the longest detention of a journalist in the Palestinian enclave since the Islamists took control in factional fighting three months ago.
Officials accused him of conspirng with their secular rivals in the Fatah movement and seized him at home on Monday, despite efforts by other reporters to prevent the arrest.
Media and rights groups said Fayeq Abu Jarad of Palestine Television was the latest journalist whose professional activity had run into political hostility from Hamas since June.
Palestine Television is controlled by officials loyal to Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president and leader of Fatah, which retains control in the larger territory of the West Bank.
The Hamas-run Interior Ministry in Gaza said in a statement that Abu Jarad and others had tried to film near a security post seized from Abbas's forces three months ago, with the intention of sending footage to Fatah officials in the West Bank.
"The Ministry of Interior stresses it supports freedom of expression but it also stresses that no one is above the law and that the profession of journalism does not give those who exercise it impunity to commit security and criminal violations," the ministry said in the statement.
The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate rejected the accusation against Abu Jarad and said it believed he was jailed simply for working for Palestine Television, which Hamas accuses of launching a Fatah-inspired propaganda campaign against it.
Khalil Abu Shammada, director of the Ad-Dameer Association for Human Rights in Gaza, said Abu Jarad's arrest was a continuation of attacks on the media by Hamas in recent months.
"In several previous attacks, Hamas has apologised and blamed the actions on some individuals but it seems that individual actions have become systematic," he told Reuters.
Journalists have complained about behaviour by security forces during disturbances involving Fatah supporters in Gaza in recent weeks, during which several reporters have been hurt.
Media organisations have also complained this week about the beating and detention of a Reuters journalist by Fatah-dominated security forces in the West Bank city of Hebron. Abbas's government apologised for the incident and ordered an inquiry.
In Gaza, journalists seen as sympathetic to both Hamas and Fatah say they have received threatening anonymous text messages this month, adding to a sense of intimidation among the media.
The Journalists Syndicate has urged Hamas to lift bans on 11 press and broadcast outlets closed in Gaza since June. The Islamists complain in turn that their media facilities and two pro-Hamas newspapers have been closed down in the West Bank.
