(Washington Post) David Keyes - A university lecturer and single mother of two, Ismat Abdul-Khaleq, was arrested in the West Bank last week for criticizing Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Facebook. Under Abbas, slander of high-ranking officials is punishable by up to two years in prison. George Canawati, director of Radio Bethlehem 2000, was arrested in September over a Facebook post that criticized Bethlehem's health department. Journalist Rami Samara was held in February after criticizing Palestinian leaders on Facebook. And Palestinian journalist Youssef al-Shayeb was jailed last month for defaming public officials after he reported on corruption among Palestinian diplomats. In recent months, Hamas has arrested journalists, banned a social media conference and jailed several bloggers. Meanwhile, the world's silence is deafening - and revealing. The writer is executive director of the New York-based organization Advancing Human Rights and co-founder of CyberDissidents.org.
2012-04-06 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive