Le Hezbollah détient un éminent journaliste allemand après une diffusion en direct à la télévision israélienne

Après avoir récemment quitté le Liban, le journaliste allemand Paul Ronzheimer a révélé qu'il avait eu les yeux bandés, qu'il avait été menotté et détenu par les forces de sécurité libanaises après avoir participé à une émission en direct avec une chaîne de télévision israélienne.

Le rédacteur en chef adjoint du quotidien allemand à grand tirage BILD a raconté l'histoire de son arrestation et de sa libération sur son podcast, après son retour en Allemagne d'un voyage de reportage au Liban.

Ce récit met en évidence l'étendue du contrôle du Hezbollah sur le pays, ainsi que ses limites, les frappes israéliennes ayant tué la plupart de ses dirigeants au cours des dernières semaines.

Le lendemain de son arrivée dans le pays, M. Ronzheimer a reçu l'autorisation du Hezbollah d'effectuer un reportage dans le quartier de Dahiyeh, à Beyrouth, sur les funérailles d'Ibrahim Qubaisi, le chef de la force de missiles et de roquettes du Hezbollah, qui avait été récemment tué par Israël.

כעת ניתן לספר שכתב המלחמות של העיתון הגרמני הנפוץ BILD, פול רונצהיימר, נעצר בביירות ביום שלאחר חיסול נסראללה לאחר שהתראיין לתכנית ״חדשות שישי״ עם מואב ורדי בשידור חי מביירות. pic.twitter.com/IyUq25tdOz

— Dov Gil-Har (@DovGilHar) October 9, 2024

The following day, Israel killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in a massive air strike in Dahiyeh, just a few kilometers from Ronzheimer's location. As a seasoned and well-informed war reporter, he was invited by several media outlets to report live from Beirut, including Kan News, the Israeli state channel.

During breakfast the next morning, another journalist alerted Ronzheimer that his photo was circulating in Hezbollah-affiliated WhatsApp groups.

Hezbollah agents were looking for him for allegedly violating some of the restrictive conditions imposed by the terrorist group on journalists' work, and for working with a TV channel owned by the Israeli enemy.

Shortly afterwards, five unknown men entered his hotel room, took all his electronic devices, then drove Ronzheimer and his photographer in a car and took them to an unknown location for a “routine interrogation”.

They were taken to an unmarked building, which Ronzheimer said probably belonged to Lebanese military intelligence, and interrogated for several hours, before being handcuffed, blindfolded and taken to another location.

There, they were questioned again for several hours, in particular about the live feed with Israel, Ronzheimer's past reports in Israel and his interview with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and his report on the Hezbollah funeral.

“They never said 'We think you're a spy', but they asked question after question,” said Ronzheimer. After the investigation, he was placed in a prison cell.

Later that evening, he was released, after an intervention by the German embassy in Beirut. “I think it was a political decision,” said Mr. Ronzheimer.

“Everyone told me that when Hezbollah suspects a journalist of something and he is in a government-controlled area, such as Dahiyeh, Hezbollah has very close links with military intelligence, which comes to investigate on Hezbollah's orders.

Despite the incident, Mr. Ronzheimer continued to report from Beirut for a week before returning to Germany.

“Regardless of the incident, the fact that we were arrested and interrogated there and also spent time in prison, it is currently incredibly difficult for many journalists to report from the places that really matter,” he said.

Ronzheimer stressed that he had left Lebanon because he had not received permission to report from the southern border with Israel or other Hezbollah-controlled areas of Lebanon.

Despite this, Ronzheimer was very clear: “Of course, I will continue to report on this war”.