WASHINGTON, July 15, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — The Press Freedom Center at the National Press Club today called for the release of well-known Palestinian journalist Ali al-Samoudi from Megiddo Prison in Israel.
Samoudi, 58, is being held on military administrative detention, which was recently extended by six months. There was no evidence presented against him following charges of supporting a terrorist organization. Samoudi is one of the highest profile Palestinian journalists working in the West Bank. He has worked for CNN and Al Jazeera.
Samoudi plays a prominent role in the new film “Who Killed Shireen” about the killing of Al Jazeera correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh by an IDF sniper in Jenin in May of 2022. Samoudi was shot in the back in the same incident but survived.
The film was screened for the first time in Washington on July 12 with more than 400 people attending a program planned by the Press Freedom Center at the National Press Club. After the film there was a panel discussion including: Medhi Hassan, founder of Zeteo, which platformed the film; Abderrahim Foukara, Al-Jazeera bureau chief in DC; Dion Nissenbaum, the lead investigator and producer of film, and Jihan Abdalla, a senior correspondent for the National News. Nissenbaum called for Samoudi’s release on the panel and in the film. Video of the panel can be found here.
At least 20 Palestinian journalists are being held in military administrative detention since the beginning of the current conflict in October 2023. Another 200 journalists have been killed in the region since that time.
Founded in 2024, the Center for Press Freedom at the National Press Club helps support journalists who have been wrongfully detained, beaten, killed, subjected to lawfare or driven from their countries. For more information, click here.
Contact: Bill McCarren, 202-662-7534 or [email protected] for the Press Freedom Center at the National Press Club
SOURCE National Press Club
