By Esra Kaymak Avci
WASHINGTON (AA) – The U.S. detained a reporter who had just returned from Beirut and asked her to hand over phones, according to a Facebook post by the reporter.
Wall Street Journal (WSJ) Middle East reporter Maria Abi-Habib was pulled from a passport check point at Los Angeles international airport by a Department of Homeland Security officer.
The official told Abi-Habib her name was flagged on the flight manifest because she had traveled to “many dangerous places.
“They grilled me for an hour,” Abi-Habib said in her Facebook post Thursday, explaining how authorities escorted her to a room and treated her as a dangerous suspect.
Then the officer asked Abi-Habib for her two cellphones to “collect information.
“And that is where I drew the line — I told her I had First Amendment rights as a journalist she couldn’t violate and I was protected under. I explained I had to protect my sources of information,” Abi-Habib said.
As a response, the officer asked her whether she just admitted that she collects “information for foreign governments”.
Abi-Habib replied that she would not hand over her phones as those were the “property of WSJ” and directed the officer to talk to the newspaper’s lawyers.
While Abi-Habib was refusing to hand over her phones, the officer gave her a document that said that the U.S. government had the right to seize phones at any point of entry into the U.S and that right extends for 100 miles.
As Abi-Habib continued to protest the officer’s request, the officer accused her of hindering the investigation.
The reporter described this as “a dangerous accusation” at that point because she feared the officials could use force against her.
“I put my hands up and said I’d done nothing but be cooperative, but when it comes to my phones, she would have to call WSJ’s lawyers,” she said.
The reporter was eventually allowed to leave and the officer left to consult with a supervisor, she was told.
Abi-Habib said she searched for her rights after the incident and found that as a journalist she is exempted from certain restrictions.
