[News] PA leader Abbas imposes fines, prison and hard labor on Palestinians who violate “public manners” or harm “social harmony” online

Wed Aug 9 11:30:15 EDT 2017

https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/charlotte-silver/mahmoud-abbas-decrees-sweeping-internet-speech-restrictions 

  Mahmoud Abbas decrees sweeping internet speech restrictions

Charlotte Silver 
<https://electronicintifada.net/people/charlotte-silver> - 9 August 2017

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Palestinian media and human rights groups are calling on the Palestinian 
Authority <https://electronicintifada.net/tags/palestinian-authority> to 
suspend the new “Electronic Crimes” law that critics say is a sweeping 
attack on the right to free expression and privacy.

Meanwhile, an Israeli minister is facing difficulties in his effort to 
shut down Al Jazeera.

The law was approved 
<https://globalvoices.org/2017/08/03/will-palestines-new-cybercrime-law-pave-the-way-for-more-rights-violations/#> 
in secrecy by PA leader Mahmoud Abbas 
<https://electronicintifada.net/tags/mahmoud-abbas> on 24 June. Without 
any public discussion, it reportedly went into effect just two weeks later.

Groups including the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, the Independent 
Committee for Human Rights and the Palestinian Center for Development 
and Media Freedoms (MADA) <https://electronicintifada.net/tags/mada>, 
have all denounced <http://www.madacenter.org/news.php?lang=1&id=316> 
the law, warning it will further erode Palestinians’ rights.

Social Media Exchange, a group that monitors laws that affect digital 
rights in the Arab world, translated 
<https://smex.org/limiting-palestinian-free-speech-online-is-no-solution-to-cybercrime> 
the most troubling parts of Abbas’ decree.

It stipulates that acts online that harm “national unity” or “social 
harmony” will be punishable by hard labor for three to 15 years.

The law allows for anyone to be imprisoned for one year and fined up to 
$7,000 for violating “public manners” online.

It requires internet service providers to cooperate with Palestinian 
intelligence agencies, and collect, store and share user information.

It also empowers the PA attorney general to block any website and allows 
the public prosecutor “to monitor and record online communications” 
deemed “necessary for investigations.”

Writing 
<https://globalvoices.org/2017/08/03/will-palestines-new-cybercrime-law-pave-the-way-for-more-rights-violations/#> 
for /Global Voices/, digital rights researcher Marwa Fatafta reports 
that the law extends to Palestinians living abroad, though it is not 
clear how it would be enforced on people outside the occupied West Bank.

    PA crackdown on journalists

Both Israel 
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/charlotte-silver/israel-uses-facebook-likes-convict-astrophysicist-incitement> 
and the Palestinian Authority 
<https://electronicintifada.net/content/jailed-calling-palestinian-authority-rotten/16871>, 
which work 
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/mahmoud-abbas-collaboration-israeli-army-secret-police-sacred> 
together 
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/charlotte-silver/pa-collaborates-israels-torture-agency> 
closely to control the Palestinian population under military occupation, 
already jail Palestinians for their postings on social media.

The decree’s enactment comes as the PA oversees a wave of press 
violations 
<https://english.palinfo.com/news/2017/7/16/PA-security-arrests-journalist-summons-three-others-in-W-Bank> 
including arrests for statements made on social media.

At the beginning of June, the Palestinian Authority arrested 
<https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/society/2017/6/12/outrage-as-palestinian-authorities-detain-student-for-facebook-post> 
23-year-old Nassar Jaradat for posting on his Facebook page a call for a 
“people’s revolution” against the Fatah leadership – Abbas’ political 
faction.

This week, PA intelligence agencies in the occupied West Bank arrested 
four journalists <http://www.raialyoum.com/?p=723442> from several local 
outlets, accusing them of “leaking sensitive information.”

Speaking at a recent forum 
<http://www.madacenter.org/news.php?lang=1&id=316> of groups concerned 
about the new decree, Mousa Rimawi 
<https://electronicintifada.net/tags/mousa-rimawi>, the director of 
MADA, noted that the PA’s press violations exceeded Israel’s in June and 
that authorities have blocked access to 29 news websites that belong to 
political critics.

    Trouble with Al Jazeera

Meanwhile, Israel’s communications minister Ayoub Kara 
<https://electronicintifada.net/tags/ayoub-kara> is running into 
difficulties as he moves forward with his promise 
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/charlotte-silver/surge-israeli-attacks-journalists> 
to shut down Al Jazeera’s 
<https://electronicintifada.net/tags/al-jazeera> Jerusalem bureau.

Following in the footsteps of Saudi Arabia 
<https://electronicintifada.net/tags/saudi-arabia> and other Gulf states 
that have mounted a campaign 
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/israel-backs-saudi-arabia-confrontation-qatar> 
against Qatar and its media network, Kara and Israeli Prime Minister 
Benjamin Netanyahu 
<https://electronicintifada.net/tags/benjamin-netanyahu> have accused Al 
Jazeera of “incitement” and vowed to shut it down.

Amnesty International has called 
<https://www.amnestyusa.org/press-releases/israel-plans-to-shut-down-al-jazeera-are-an-attack-on-media-freedom/> 
Israel’s attempt to shut down Al Jazeera a “chilling message that 
Israeli authorities will not tolerate critical coverage.”

“This is a brazen attack on media freedom in Israel and the occupied 
Palestinian territories,” Magdalena Mughrabi, Amnesty’s deputy Middle 
East and North Africa director, said in a statement on Monday.

But the Tel Aviv newspaper /Haaretz/ reports 
<http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.805486> that Kara is meeting 
resistance as he attempts to shutter the network in Israel, starting 
with his request that the Government Press Office revoke the credentials 
of Al Jazeera journalists.

According to /Haaretz/, the Government Press Office does not have the 
authority to revoke press credentials. Israeli security agencies would 
have to first make the recommendation on the basis that Al Jazeera would 
“endanger national security.”

“I have contacted these agencies, asking for a professional opinion 
regarding Al Jazeera,” said Government Press Office director Nitzan 
Chen, who noted that credentials will not be revoked without an “an 
orderly hearing, as specified by regulations.”

Kara has asked broadcast companies for help, but they have so far failed 
to express any willingness to remove Al Jazeera from their service.

He has also asked public security minister Gilad Erdan 
<https://electronicintifada.net/tags/gilad-erdan> for assistance, but 
Erdan referred him to the Israeli police, who sent Kara back to the 
public security ministry.

This leaves Kara with the option to try to pass an amendment to the law, 
a process that would not begin until the fall.

    Bending over backwards

During Israel’s regular attacks on Gaza, including the last major one 
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQY4gRoJoPM> three years ago that 
killed more than 2,200 Palestinians, Al Jazeera has regularly 
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSSVfxHbuBE> provided 
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhoLWmYINRw> Israeli officials 
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gRhoJyZRRg> with air time to justify 
their lethal attacks on Palestinians.

Amid the recent increase in tension around the al-Aqsa mosque compound 
<https://electronicintifada.net/tags/al-aqsa-mosque> in Jerusalem, Al 
Jazeera’s Arabic channel interviewed 
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaI0qV-y-As> Yoav Mordechai, the 
Israeli military officer who governs the occupied West Bank.

Despite the network extensively providing Israel with a platform, Kara 
remains committed to shutting Al Jazeera down, stating: “The safety of 
our citizens and their well-being supersedes freedom of expression 
during times of terror.”

“The freedom of expression is not the freedom to incite and foment 
strife,” he added. “Even democracy has its limits.”

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