GAZA STRIP: The Mohammed Omer case lives on

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A story in today’s L.A. Times examines the controversies surrounding the case of Gaza-based journalist and activist Mohammed Omer.

Omer, whose work earned him the Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism, claims he was sexually humiliated and physically assaulted by Israeli security officials in June while crossing from Jordan into the Israeli-controlled West Bank.

Omer is now in Holland receiving medical treatment and psychological counseling. But the Israeli government, after an internal investigation, pronounced his complaints to be ‘without foundation’ and expressed ‘doubts as to the sincerity’ of his claims.

Omer and his supporters charge that the Israeli investigation was a nonexistent rubber stamp, citing the fact that neither Omer nor the paramedic who treated him was ever interviewed.

Check out the story and let us know what you think.

-- Ashraf Khalil in Jerusalem