Palestinian Authority security forces in the West Bank Sunday night arrested
another Palestinian journalist for posting a critical comment on
Facebook.
Agents belonging to the PA’s Preventive Security Service in
Ramallah arrested Tarek Khamis, who works for the Palestinian Zaman Press news
agency, for criticizing the PA’s current clampdown on Palestinian journalists in
the West Bank, a Palestinian journalist told The Jerusalem Post.
He said
that Khamis was taken into custody after he wrote a comment that referred
specifically to the recent arrest of female journalist and blogger Esmat Abdel
Khalik.
She was arrested last week after she posted derogatory remarks
about PA President Mahmoud Abbas on her Facebook page.
Adnan Damiri,
spokesman for the PA security forces, said that Abdel Khalik was being held on
charges of “extending her tongue” against the elected president of the
PA.
Damiri said that the journalist called Abbas a “traitor” and
“fascist.” She is also accused of calling for the dismantling of the
PA.
Abdel Khalik is being held in solitary confinement pending her
trial.
Khamis was arrested after he posted a comment on his Facebook page
that criticized Abdel Khalik’s arrest.
“If calling for the dismantlement
of the Palestinian Authority is an extension of the tongue, then let us all
extend our tongues.”
A third journalist, Youssef Al-Shayeb, was also
arrested last week for exposing corruption in the Palestinian diplomatic mission
in France.
Last week a PA court ordered him remanded into custody for 15
days after he refused to reveal his sources.
He was arrested following a
complaint lodged by PA Foreign Minister Riad Malki and the head of the
diplomatic mission in France.
Malki accused the journalist of slander and
defamation, saying he had committed a sin against journalism and should be
punished for publishing the controversial article.
However, following
strong protests by Palestinian journalists and human rights organizations, the
PA released Al-Shayeb on Monday on $7,000 bail.
Al-Shayeb had gone on
hunger strike while in PA detention.
Damiri denied claims by some
Palestinian journalists that the PA had set up a special force to monitor social
media networks in the Palestinian territories.
He said that the PA
security forces were only carrying out the orders of the courts and
attorney-general’s office.
The Arabic Network For Human Rights
Information said that the PA’s crackdown on journalists was a “dangerous
precedent and an assault on freedom of expression in the Palestinian
territories.”
“Journalists are entitled to express their opinions without
fear of being imprisoned or harassed,” the Cairo-based group said in a
statement.
Commenting on the clampdown, Palestinian journalist Adel
Samara said: “This is a totalitarian regime. What would happen when we fulfill
our dream of having our own state? We will all be sitting with Al-Shayeb [in
prison].”
“Imagine what would have happened had Al-Shayeb been arrested
in Algiers or China,” Samara continued.
“The West would have erupted and
many articles would have been written about him.”