German broadcaster DW’s sacking of Palestinian journalist was unlawful, court rules

BERLIN (AA) - A labor court in Berlin has ruled that the dismissal of Palestinian-Jordanian journalist Farah Maraqa by Germany's state broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) on charges of anti-Semitism was not legally justified.

Maraqa's lawyer hailed the court's judgment on Monday and called on DW to issue a public apology and reinstate Maraqa.

"The court ruled totally in our favour in the case of the unlawful dismissal of Farah. It held that Deutsche Welle is obliged to reinstate her, so Farah is now entitle to return to her work," Hauke Rinsdorf said in an e-mailed statement to Anadolu Agency on Tuesday.

"It's not just a relief for Farah in the difficult situation, Deutsche Welle brought her into, but also a proof for the strength of the rule of law,” he stressed.

Rinsdorf criticized Deutsche Welle for making false accusations against the journalist and damaging her reputation.

"Now we have the court's decision which speaks for itself. One may see this as an important step to restore Farah's professional reputation as a journalist," he said.

DW fired several journalists from its Arabic service following a two-month internal investigation into allegations of anti-Semitism.

However, a separate investigation conducted by Euro-Med Monitor found that Maraqa’s articles in question had been taken out of context and that the inquiry itself contained several instances of embracing a pro-Israeli narrative against Palestinians.

In July, a former colleague of Maraqa, Maram Salem, won her case against DW for unlawful termination.

A court then ruled that Salem’s dismissal was illegal, and said her Facebook posts were not anti-Semitic.

DW has long been criticized for biased coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

But management at Deutsche Welle has argued that Germany bears special responsibility for the country, due to Nazi crimes committed against Jews during World War II.