Al-Hikmah condemns the detention and treatment of journalists, Muslim students and students of color by UMPD

Al-Hikmah condemns the hour-long detention of two of our staff by the University of Maryland’s Police Department as they were fulfilling their journalistic duties to cover a protest against the presence of Israeli Defense Force (IDF) soldiers at a Students Supporting Israel (SSI) event Tuesday night. 

In the course of covering the student protest, two Al-Hikmah journalists followed a small group of protesters as they entered the hallway outside the SSI event, in order to document the incident. Al-Hikmah’s journalists were recording and taking photos with a professional camera and a cell phone.

Within minutes, UMPD surrounded and detained one of our journalists and two protestors. The detained reporter clarified their role and attempted to walk away and was physically forced back in. Our other reporter, not detained at the moment, attempted to re-explain to officers that they were both journalists and was surrounded and detained immediately. A journalist asked officers if they would like to speak to their editor, for proof of their status as a journalist. The officer said no.

Pursuant to Al-Hikmah’s policies, one of the reporters had approached UMPD officers hours prior and clearly identified themselves as journalists. One of these officers approached by the reporter was also directly involved in detaining them later that evening.

Video footage before the detainment shows that our reporters did not engage in behavior that would provide police reasonable suspicion of committing a crime, as defined by UMPD policy 2.428.

Additionally, contrary to UMPD’s policy that investigative detentions must be conducted within reasonable periods of time,  both reporters were held for an hour after repeatedly explaining their presence.

The four students were surrounded by five to ten officers at all times. Despite repeated statements from the two journalists that they were working for a newspaper, officers and Stamp Student Union director Marsha Guenzler-Stevens insisted that they were “disrupting” the SSI IDF speaker event. 

Officers continuously told Al-Hikmah’s reporters that they would not be allowed to leave without providing their university IDs or names. Video shows an officer telling the four students that they have committed a criminal offense and identification was needed so the police could investigate that criminal offense. 

While detained, one reporter with a chronic medical condition began to feel ill. The reporter asked officers if they could have food. The officers repeatedly declined to provide food or to escort the reporter to purchase food for over half an hour until a student bystander provided the reporter with food that they bought.

Officers offered to call an ambulance but refused to determine whether the reporter or UMD/UMPD would pay for the cost of an ambulance ride, and the reporter felt compelled to decline. Reporters were not permitted to use the restroom without a police officer standing in the restroom and at one point were told they could not use the restroom without permission.

If reporters attempted to walk away, officers physically blocked them from doing so. 

Al-Hikmah condemns over-policing, detention and abusive treatment of journalists, students of color, and Muslim students. Al-Hikmah denounces UMD and UMPD’s attempts to silence journalism covering the voices of pro-Palestine protestors and stands in firm solidarity with journalists who remain committed to covering the truth of what occurred in the genocide in Gaza, in anti-fascist protests, and in other dangerous and high-risk events.

_{Image credits: Cover photo by Al-Hikmah Staff.}