Palestinian jailed for ‘liking’ anti-PA web post

Man sentenced to six months in prison for clicking "like" on a Facebook status criticizing PA official.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
Using Facebook on the Internet 370 (R) (photo credit: reuters)
Using Facebook on the Internet 370 (R)
(photo credit: reuters)
A Palestinian man who clicked “Like” on a Facebook status criticizing a Palestinian Authority official has been sentenced to six months in prison.
Anas Ismail, 29, of Salfit, near Nablus, was found guilty of “libel and slander.”
Ismail is the second Palestinian to be imprisoned for Facebook activities in the past few days.
He was sentenced to prison on the same day another PA court in Bethlehem sentenced Palestinian journalist to one year in prison for sharing a photo on Facebook that compared PA President Mahmoud Abbas to a villain and the spy of French colonial authorities in a Syrian drama.
Ismail said that the PA’s Preventive Security force detained him for 17 days before he was sentenced to six months in prison.
He said he was accused of clicking “Like” on a status that called for sacking former PA Communications minister Mashhour Abu Daka.
Ismail told the West Bank-based Wattan TV station that he had been summoned for interrogation 10 times in the past six months because of the “Like” on Facebook.
He pointed out that he had been sentenced in absentia last Thursday.
His lawyer, Wajdi Amer, said he would appeal the verdict on Sunday.
Noting that the verdict had been passed down in absentia, the lawyer said that his client had not been given the chance to defend himself in court.