Sergio Yahni, the Program Director of the Alternative Information Center (AIC),

was detained on 25 November by Israeli police while filming construction of the

Museum of Tolerance, being built on the Ma’man Allah Islamic Cemetery in West

Jerusalem

http://www.alternativenews.org/news/english/aic-program

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Sergio Yahni, the Program Director of the Alternative Information Center (AIC), was

detained this afternoon (1:30 p.m., 25 November) by Israeli police while filming

construction of the Museum of Tolerance, being built on the Ma’man Allah Islamic

Cemetery in West Jerusalem.

Because the site for the planned museum is surrounded by a fence unusually

high for construction sites in Israel, Yahni climbed to the roof of a nearby building

under construction in order to film work in the cemetery. As he filmed, Israeli

police suddenly appeared and arrested him on the spot, taking him to the

Russian Compound police station in Jerusalem.

• Yahni was originally accused of trespassing in the building under construction.

No sign was posted at the construction site, warning against trespassing and

no verbal warnings were given to Yahni that it was illegal to climb on the roof

of the building. However, following interrogation, the police confiscated Yahni’s

film showing the destruction of the Ma’man cemetery and only through the

intervention of Attorney Lea Tsemel did the police agree to return his video

camera, a primary working tool of the AIC. The Israeli General Security Services

(GSS) were also notified of Yahni’s filming.

“The Israeli authorities have proven their determination in preventing local

and international publics from learning more about the destruction of the Ma’man

Allah Islamic Cemetery,” notes Connie Hackbarth, Executive Director of the AIC.

“Sergio was clearly detained for his work to expose this additional attempt by Israel,

in this case together with those claiming to promote tolerance, to erase Muslim

and Palestinian history in Jerusalem.”

The police are legally allowed to retain the film of the Alternative Information Center

for 120 days.

The historic Ma’man Allah Islamic Cemetery, which contains the graves of numerous

Muslim leaders, was founded in the 13^th century and is regarded as sacred. In 2004,

the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Los Angeles based Jewish organization (“focusing

on racism in America and the history of the Holocaust ”) started to plan the

construction of a US$250 million Museum of Tolerance, on top of the Islamic Cemetery.

The construction was put on hold in 2006 because of legal proceedings against the

destruction of the Ma’man Cemetery but on 29 October 2008, the Israeli High Court

gave the final “green light” for the creation of the Museum of Tolerance, and the

construction recommenced.