Gaza journalists get threats over Hamas coverage

[barb162]

Gaza journalists get threats over Hamas coverage

Mon May 1, 2006 9:41am ET

GAZA (Reuters) - A handful of Palestinian journalists have reported receiving death threats for their critical coverage of the Islamic militant group Hamas since it began running the government in March, a press group said on Monday.

The Palestinian Journalists' Union said seven journalists in the Gaza Strip, mostly sympathetic to President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party, had received threats by e-mail, phone or fax -- made in Hamas's name -- to harm or kill them for their coverage.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri denied the group had threatened journalists, saying the calls were a fraudulent attempt to "damage Hamas's image". He urged security forces to investigate.

The threats came amid a struggle for sway over the Palestinian Authority and its security forces that pits the moderate Abbas, favored by Israel and Western powers, against Hamas, which beat Fatah in a parliamentary election in January.

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http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=worldNews&storyid=2006-05-01T134121Z_01_L01688891_RTRUKOC_0_US-MIDEAST-MEDIA-THREATS.xml