Palestinian journalist jailed for 'insulting' Abbas

Journalist gets one year sentence after sharing photo comparing Abbas's face to a villain on a Syrian TV show.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
Published: MARCH 28, 2013 17:10
abbas370 (photo credit: Courtesy)
abbas370
(photo credit: Courtesy)
Journalist Mamdouh Hamamreh from Bethlehem was sentenced on Thursday to one year in prison for “insulting” Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Facebook.
He is the second Palestinian to be sentenced to one year in prison for this offense since the beginning of the year.
Hamamreh, who works for the Palestinian Al-Quds TV station, was found guilty of sharing a photo on Facebook that compared Abbas to a man who played the role of a French spy in a popular Syrian TV series.
A PA court in Bethlehem found the journalist guilty of publishing a photo “harming his excellency the president, disseminating lies, libel and slander and publishing material that spreads seeds of hatred.”
In February, a PA court in Nablus sentenced 26-year-old Anas Said Awad to one year in prison for publishing a photo of Abbas on Facebook depicting the PA president as a player for Real Madrid.
Last year, the PA security forces in the West Bank detained a number of Palestinian journalists and activists for posting critical comments and jokes about the Abbas and other leaders on Facebook.