Press freedom watchdogs have called on the Israeli military to release the director of a Palestinian TV station who was detained last Thursday (17 May).

Israeli soldiers arrested Baha Khairi Moussa, who runs the Palestine Prisoner Channel, a satellite broadcaster based in the West Bank. They also confiscated the station's equipment.

But the reason for his arrest remains a mystery, as do his whereabouts. Both the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and the Vienna-based International Press Institute (IPI) have called for his release.

The Palestine Prisoner Channel, which began broadcasting a month ago, features reports and interviews with Palestinian prisoners on their status and condition in Israeli jails.

The arrest occurred days after about 2,000 Palestinian prisoners waged a month-long hunger strike for more rights in the Israeli detention system.

Issa Qaraqe, the Palestinian minister of prisoner affairs, said Moussa's arrest was "illegal and arbitrary." He said the channel had legal authorisation from the Palestinian Authority to broadcast.

Sources: Jerusalem Post/CPJ/IPI