Palestinian men face prison sentences for Facebook posts
Facebook posts by a number of Palestinian men have been deemed inciteful to violence by the magistrate’s court in Jerusalem, amid public uproar calling the legality of the charges into question.
RAMALLAH, West Bank — The Jerusalemite family of Omar al-Shalabi did not expect the status updates he posted on his Facebook page to lead to his arrest by Israeli authorities. Up until the Jerusalem magistrate’s court announced its verdict, the family also believed he would be released and allowed to return home. On May 12, Shalabi was sentenced to nine months in prison.
Shalabi's brother Mohammed, who is following up on his sibling’s case with a lawyer, told Al-Monitor that the ruling was unexpected given the apparent trivialness of the acts leading to the charges against him. The family had in addition expected Shalabi to be released on bail awaiting trial. He had been arrested Dec. 14 and charged with incitement based on postings to his Facebook page. The posts followed the kidnapping and murder of a young Palestinian man, Mohammed Abu Khdeir, by extremist settlers. Israeli authorities thus feared possible retaliatory attacks against settlers.
Mohammed Shalabi said his brother's postings leading up to his arrest were no different from what he had been posting for quite some time. “The occupation authorities retained Omar’s posts as a pretext to arrest him, because he was an activist in the Fatah movement in Jerusalem,” claimed Mohammed Shalabi.
He said the indictment referenced such updates as, “The occupation will leave the city of Jerusalem, and the city will keep its Jerusalem identity despite the occupation,” and “Jerusalem is for Jerusalemites no matter how long occupation lasts.” There were also statements about the injustices suffered by Jerusalemites. Omar Shalabi deleted the postings under contention upon his brother's arrest, but that did not influence the court’s decision.
