Michel Warshawsky Israeli activist free on bail
1987 1987-04Read it in the scan (PDF at ETOL), page 5 →
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SOCIALIST ACTION APRIL 1987 5 MICHELV LIND REEDOM of the PRESS Ryan «RAFL.
Picket at Israeli consulate in San Francisco on After an international campaign involving letters, telegrams and picket lines, Michel Warshawsky, director of the Alternative Information Center (AIC) in West Jerusalem, has been released on $50,000 bail.
Warshawsky was arrested on Feb. 16 and charged with "collaborating with Palestinian terrorists." The AIC was closed by the government.
For three years the AIC has printed and disseminated news from the occupied territories, the Gaza Strip, and the West Bank. A statement issued by the center at a news conference explained the situation:
"The Alternative Information Center operated openly. Our office was registered with the Ministry of Interior and its publications were submitted to the censor in accordance with censorship regulations. The door to the office was open to everyone, save for members of Kach, Gush Emunim or illegal organizations...
"For three years the center provided news, translations and typesetting services to thousands of clients, including journalists, news agencies, consulates and embassies, public institutions and individuals interested in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict...
"Our crime lay in providing Israeli, Palestinian and foreign journalists with accurate and up-to-date information on human rights violations in the occupied territories, and on social and political issues related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."
The arrest of Warshawsky is the first time the Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance of 1948 has been used to suppress an Israeli journalist.
Getting Warshawsky released on bail is a victory for all supporters of civil liberties. But the Israeli government has attached onerous and illegal conditions that must be reversed. Warshawsky must report three times a week to the police. He is forbidden to participate in any activities of the AIC, which still remains closed. He is also forbidden to write anything about his case.
No date for the trial, which is expected to take 10 months to a year, has been set.
International protests got Warshawsky out on bail. It will take more protests to get the Israeli government to drop all charges and to reopen the Center. Letters of protest should be sent to Avraham Sharir, Minister of Justice, 29 Salah A-din, Jerusalem, 91010 Israel. Please send copies to Socialist Action.