BBC journalists detained at gunpoint in southern Syria
LONDON: Israeli Defense Forces detained, blindfolded, tied up and strip-searched at gunpoint seven members of a BBC Arabic crew as they approached the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, a BBC journalist said on Thursday.
Feras Kilani, a British special correspondent for BBC Arabic, said he was among the team detained for seven hours at a checkpoint near the barrier of Quneitra city, located within the buffer zone between Syria and Israel.
'A minute after we started filming in the area, a white car approached from the other side of the checkpoint. Four Israeli soldiers got out of the car and surrounded us. They pointed their rifles at our heads and ordered us to place the camera on the side of the road,' wrote Kilani in a BBC article.
The crew's phones and laptops were inspected, with some files deleted, and their vehicle was thoroughly searched as they were led into a room, tied up and blindfolded.
Kilani's team included two Iraqi BBC staff members and four Syrians, among them three freelancers and a cameraman.
'I pleaded to the officer to release them, and he promised to do so after the interrogations. They were taken one by one to the same room for strip search and questioning.'
Kilani said the team was also threatened before their release in the evening: 'The officer threatened us with worse consequences if we approached the frontier from the Syrian side again and said that they know everything about us and would track us down if any hidden or un-deleted photo was ever published.'
In a statement, the BBC said it had filed a complaint with the Israeli military over the incident but had yet to receive a response.
'The BBC strongly objects to the treatment of our staff and freelancers in this way. Despite making clear to the soldiers on multiple occasions they were working for the BBC, the behavior they were subjected to is wholly unacceptable,' the broadcaster said.
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