THE HAGUE: A series of civil society-led hearings culminated Monday in The Hague with a call for an “independent and comprehensive” review of how to protect media workers in an age of increasing authoritarianism.
Launched by a coalition of press freedom organizations in November last year, this “People’s Tribunal” heard evidence and analysis about the killing of journalists in Mexico, Sri Lanka and Syria.
While it had no legal powers to convict anyone, the tribunal aimed to raise awareness, pressure governments and gathered evidence through what it called its form of “grassroots justice.”
The tribunal’s leaders said Mexico, Sri Lanka and Syria each failed to protect the lives of journalists — whose cases were examined in the hearings — and “demonstrated the lack of a wider will” to bring journalists’ killers to justice.
“There should be a comprehensive independent review of the apparent inability of the international community’s initiatives, largely through the United Nations... to protect journalists, media workers and even media organizations,” said Gill Boehringer, a judge on the panel.
He also detailed a raft of other measures to be taken, saying “impunity must end.”
The tribunal examined the 2009 killing of newspaper editor Lasantha Wickrematunge during Sri Lanka’s Tamil separatist conflict, the 2011 murder of Mexican journalist Miguel Angel Lopez Velasco along with his wife and son, as well the death of Nabil Al-Sharbaji in a Syrian detention center in 2015.
Mexico, Sri Lanka and Syria “through their acts of omission including the lack of investigation, the lack of reparation for the victims and impunity... are guilty of all the human rights violations brought against them in the indictment,” Argentinian judge Eduardo Bertoni said.
But the problem of attacks on journalists remained “and was getting worse worldwide,” tribunal judge Helen Jarvis said.
The latest case was that of Palestinian-American Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh who was shot in the head during an Israeli army operation in mid-May, the judges said.
Israel has pushed back at suggestions that the soldier who likely pulled the trigger be prosecuted, after conceding earlier this month one of its troops may have mistaken her for a militant.
Worldwide more than 2,170 journalists have been killed since 1992 and in the vast majority of cases the killers have gone free, the Committee to Protect Journalists said.
Hague ‘people’s tribunal’ urges justice for journalists
https://arab.news/y5f7x
Hague ‘people’s tribunal’ urges justice for journalists
- While it had no legal powers to convict anyone, the tribunal aimed to raise awareness, pressure governments and gathered evidence through what it called its form of “grassroots justice”
Israeli court overturns conviction of officer who assaulted Palestinian journalist, citing ‘Oct. 7 PTSD’
- Judge sentenced Yitzhak Sofer to 300 hours of community service, saying officer “devoted his life to Israel’s security” and conviction was “disproportionate to severity of his actions”
- Footage shows Sofer throwing photojournalist Mustafa Alkharouf to the ground, and repeatedly beating and kicking him while he covered Palestinian gatherings near Al-Aqsa Mosque
LONDON: An Israeli court overturned the conviction of a border police officer who assaulted a Palestinian journalist, ruling his actions were influenced by post-traumatic stress disorder from serving during the Oct. 7 2023 attacks.
On Tuesday, the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court sentenced officer Yitzhak Sofer to 300 hours of community service for assaulting Anadolu Agency photojournalist Mustafa Alkharouf in occupied East Jerusalem in December 2023.
Footage shows Sofer and other officers drawing weapons, throwing Alkharouf to the ground, and repeatedly beating and kicking him while he covered Palestinian gatherings near Al-Aqsa Mosque amid heavy restrictions.
Alkharouf was hospitalized with facial and body injuries. His cameraman, Faiz Abu Ramila, was also attacked.
Anadolu photojournalist Mustafa Alkharouf violently attacked by Israeli army in occupied East Jerusalem while covering Palestinian prayers near Al-Aqsa Mosque
— Anadolu English (@anadoluagency) December 15, 2023
Incident highlights ongoing restrictions on Friday prayers and press freedom in region https://t.co/exT6XqjEaA pic.twitter.com/pqugK9HnOt
Sofer had been convicted in September 2024 of assault causing bodily harm (acquitted of threats) and initially faced six months’ community service, as recommended by Mahash, the Justice Ministry’s police misconduct unit.
Judge Amir Shaked accepted the defense request to cancel the conviction, replacing it with community service.
He cited Sofer’s PTSD from responding to the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack, noting the officer had “no prior criminal record” and had “devoted his life to Israel’s security.”
“The court cannot ignore this when considering whether the defendant’s conviction should stand,” he said, adding that while the incident is “serious and does cross the criminal threshold,” the conviction in place could cause Sofer harm “disproportionate to the severity of his actions.”
The ruling comes amid surging attacks on journalists in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza since Israel’s war on Gaza began.
The Committee to Protect Journalists reported Israel responsible for two-thirds of the 129 media workers killed worldwide in 2025, the deadliest year on record, citing a “persistent culture of impunity” and lack of transparent probes.
Reporters Without Borders called the Israeli army the “worst enemy of journalists” in its 2025 report, with nearly half of global reporter deaths in Gaza.
Foreign journalists face raids, arrests and intimidation. In late January 2026, Israel’s Supreme Court granted a delay on ruling a ban on foreign media access to Gaza.
