Iranian journalist, briefly detained in France, vows to continue fight for Palestinian justice
A pro-Palestine Iranian-French journalist, who was briefly arrested recently by French police for his activism, says he is determined to continue advocating for Palestinian rights, despite the harsh experience he endured.
Speaking to Press TV, Shahin Hazamy, who had voiced support for Palestinian rights on social media and condemned Israeli bombings in Lebanon, said French authorities have stripped him of his journalistic tools and imposed a travel ban on him.
“I don’t have the right to leave the country. I must sign in once a week at the court or the police station to prove my presence on French territory. My journalistic tools, including my phone, camera, laptop, and computer, even my children’s tablets, have been confiscated by the police. Now, it’s very complicated to do my job as a journalist,” he said.
Hazamy has been accused by police of terrorist activity and anti-Semitism, charges that are often used to silence those who support the Palestinian cause.
“Of course I’m going to carry on. Giving up will mean losing, and we’re not losing in Palestine, Gaza, and Lebanon, despite the discussions, the genocide, and the crimes. We continue to fight for justice and freedom,” he said.
According to Hazamy, security forces raided his home and arrested him violently in front of his wife and two young children.
“Since the raid, my children are terrified of the police. They wake up crying every night. The officers meant to intimidate and traumatize us — they struck me in front of my three-year-old son, who was sleeping next to me. They also assaulted my wife, pushing her violently against a wall. She is five months pregnant,” he recounted.
Human rights activists have condemned the arrest as part of a broader crackdown on pro-Palestine activism across the West, a campaign that has increasingly targeted scholars, students, and advocates who oppose Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza.
Pro-Palestinian human rights groups argue that arrests and deportations of activists are designed to intimidate and silence those amplifying the voices of Palestinian resistance and the call for freedom.
They warn that such repression of free speech in the West only enables Israel to continue its military campaign and alleged genocide in Gaza.
