Israeli authorities will extend for a second time the detention without charge of a Palestinian journalist accused of belonging to a "terrorist organisation", his wife said on Monday. Omar Nazzal, 54 a member of the Palestinian Journalists' Union, was arrested on April 23 at the border between the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Jordan, from where he had been due to fly to a European Federation of Journalists gathering in Bosnia.
His initial four-month detention was extended for three months in August and he was expected to be released on Tuesday, his wife Marlene Rabadi told AFP. "But the court informed us that his detention would be extended again," she said. In a later Facebook post she said the extension would be for three months. The Israeli army did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Israel insists that Nazzal was detained for "his involvement in terror group activities", not "because of his activity as a journalist".