A former BBC journalist who was held hostage in Gaza for 26 days has defended the new Solicitor General, Labour’s Andy Slaughter, after he came under attack over his links to Hamas.
The Tories criticised Mr Slaughter for meeting Hamas officials in 2010. But Paul Martin praised Mr Slaughter for his visit to Gaza in what Mr Martin called “very difficult circumstances”.
Hostage freed after visit
Mr Martin had been held captive by Hamas and was threatened with mock executions. Three days after Mr Slaughter’s visit to Gaza City – against the advice of the Foreign Office – Mr Martin was freed. He was making a documentary at the time.
The Tories attacked Mr Slaughter’s recent appointment, with Shadow Justice Secretary Nick Timothy calling it a disgrace.
Journalist’s defence
Mr Martin said: “When Andy Slaughter came to the Gaza Strip as part of a four-man delegation led by another MP David Steel, he was, in my opinion perfectly entitled to talk to senior figures from Hamas.
“It is short-sighted to say that no British politician should in those days have met with people who were controlling that territory, even though in fact Hamas had violently taken over the territory from the security control of the Palestinian Authority.”
He added: “Talking to those in control of a territory that has relevance to British foreign policy was, in my view, a legitimate thing to do, provided it did not provide any encouragement of further violence.
“In any case, the presence of Andy Slaughter and David Steel was of direct benefit to me. I was being held captive by the Internal Security branch of Hamas, who locked me up because of a film I was making there.
“It was a pro-Palestinian film but one that showed the repression by Hamas of its own citizens, and was later shown eight times on BBC World News.”
Release after intervention
Mr Martin, from north London, is a freelance who has worked for the Mirror and the BBC. He said: “After 21 days in solitary confinement and after two mock executions, I was delighted when a top Hamas official came to see me and told me that Andy Slaughter and David Steel had met Hamas officials and in the course of their discussions had asked for my release.
“Four days later I was set free - though I can only speculate whether Andy and David's intervention triggered my release. In any case, they deserve credit for their trip to Gaza in 2010, not condemnation.”
Mr Slaughter was in Gaza with a delegation put together by the Council for Arab-British Understanding and by the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Palestine. Mr Martin was 55 at the time of being held and is still working as a journalist, based in London.
