Palestinian journalist arrested in Gaza: wife

A Palestinian journalist has been detained by the Hamas-led security services in the Gaza Strip, his wife said on today.
"Internal security and police stormed the house yesterday and arrested my journalist husband Mohammed Othman for unknown reasons," Huda Baroud told AFP.
"They searched his bedroom and confiscated Mohammed's laptop and phone, as well as my phone and his notebook."
"I think he was arrested because of his investigative work with the (London-based) AlAraby TV and the al-Monitor news site."
Othman, 29, had been working on an investigation into the black market for construction materials in Gaza and had faced threats in recent months, his wife said.

The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate expressed concern, saying Othman's arrest came "against the background of his professional work and journalistic investigations carried out in the Gaza Strip".

It also said that he had been threatened.
Officials in the Islamist Hamas-led government in Gaza declined to comment.
A report on Tuesday by Human Rights Watch accused Palestinian security forces in both Gaza and the West Bank of arresting and abusing journalists.
"Both Palestinian governments, operating independently, have apparently arrived at similar methods of harassment, intimidation and physical abuse of anyone who dares criticise them," Sari Bashi, the organisation's Israel and Palestine director, said in a statement.