RAMALLAH, West Bank — The charge of “inciting sectarian strife” has become a sword hanging over the heads of political activists and other citizens who are being arrested for criticizing the government or the security services on social networking websites. As a result, the dominance and influence of the executive power has been reinforced, especially in the long absence of the Palestinian Legislative Council's (PLC) control and the weakness of the judiciary.

Abdullah Nash’at al-Sayed, from the city of Tulkarm north of the West Bank, works as a photographer for weddings and events. Sayed was detained by the Preventive Security Services twice in September, accused by both the Preventive Security Services and the public prosecutor of “inciting sectarian strife” as well as “insulting supreme shrines and defaming, slandering and offending relations with Saudi Arabia.”

Sayed denied the charges, and said he was arrested Sept. 12 and held for 24 hours after he criticized Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah. Sayed’s wife, journalist Sundus Ali, explained that there has been a personal dispute between her husband's family and Hamdallah for years. She told Al-Monitor her husband was interrogated and asked, “Why do you write about Rami Hamdallah? Why do you say that it is a state of [politicians], and not a state of law?” knowing that Sayed had taken the dispute to the media.

Sayed was arrested again, on Sept. 15 at his office, according to Sundus, for "criticizing and insulting Saudi Arabia." Sayed again denied the charges and said that this time he was interrogated about criticizing the Tulkarm municipality due to continued power outages in the city. Sayed began a hunger strike Sept. 15 until he appeared Sept. 17 before the public prosecutor, who decided to extend his detention for 15 days on charges of “inciting sectarian strife according to Article 150 of the Penal Code.” He was released Sept. 20 on $2,850 bail.