Palestinian Journalist Released by PA Following Detention Over Critical Social Media Posts
Aqil Awawdeh was one of hundreds of journalists and other political dissidents arrested by the Palestinian Authority so far this year
Palestinian security forces released journalist Aqil Awawdeh on Sunday evening after four days in custody. Awawdeh, a prominent radio correspondent for Quds Press in Ramallah, West Bank, was charged with publishing information promoting racial strife, slandering the Palestinian Authority (PA), and insulting President Mahmoud Abbas. Awawdeh’s release was sanctioned by the Ramallah Magistrate Court in exchange for a judicial guarantee of 3,000 Jordanian dinars ($4,200).
Awawdeh was arrested last Thursday at his workplace in Ramallah, hours after he critiqued statements made by a PA spokesperson denying the existence of politically motivated arrests in the West Bank.
For God’s sake, you should respect our minds more than that
In response to the spokesperson’s claims that there are no political arrests in the West Bank, Awawdeh published a critical video.
“For God’s sake,” he wrote on Facebook, “you should respect our minds more than that.”
In June, the Committee of Families of Political Detainees in the West Bank accused the PA security services of carrying out 411 political arrests so far this year. Lawyers for Justice, a Ramallah-based human rights group, says that it has addressed more than 300 political arrests so far this year, including nearly 80 since the beginning of May.
More than 52 political prisoners are currently detained in PA jails. Many Palestinians who criticize the PA’s political detention policy or refute the denial of the policy’s existence are themselves arrested.
An outspoken critic of the PA, Awawdeh has come into conflict with PA security forces before. In July 2021, he and other journalists were severely beaten while covering a demonstration denouncing the PA’s targeted killing of activist Nizar Banat.
Awawdeh’s arrest has raised concerns about freedom of expression in the West Bank.
Relatives and activists gathered in downtown Ramallah, in the West Bank, to demand the release of journalist Aqil Awawdeh, July 16, 2023. (Mohammad Al-Kassim/The Media Line)
Lawyers for Justice condemned Awawdeh’s arrest as well as the arrests of other activists. It also condemned the PA’s cybercrime law, which, the group said, has been used to repress civil liberties and constitutional rights.
The PA’s cybercrime law was passed in 2017 despite objections by civil society organizations. Lawyers for Justice has said that the law violates Palestinian Basic Law and international human rights standards, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Last Tuesday, dozens of protesters gathered outside the Supreme Judicial Council in Ramallah, calling on the PA to end its crackdown on dissidents. The demonstration followed a PA prosecutor’s office summons of two senior officials from the Coalition for Accountability and Integrity (AMAN), a Ramallah-based civil society organization. AMAN had published a report implicating individuals close to Abbas in alleged financial corruption.
Ghassan Khatib, vice president of advancement and professor of cultural studies and contemporary Arab studies at Birzeit University in the West Bank, told The Media Line that political arrests are a widespread problem in Gaza as well as the West Bank.
“There are political arrests and the freedom of speech is on the decline both in the West Bank and Gaza,” Khatib said. “There has been growing criticism by Palestinians in both places.”
Khatib said that the political arrests are contributing to the PA’s declining approval ratings. He noted that some of the students at his university have themselves been arrested on political grounds.
Palestinian security services have detained several Birzeit University students for more than a month, including the head of the student council, Abdul Majeed Hassan. The detention has been extended several times following the students’ participation in the student elections in May.
At a demonstration in Ramallah on Saturday, Hassan’s mother called for his release along with the release of all detained students.
“My message is no to political detention. This farce called political detention must stop,” she said.
We completely refuse any form of political oppression inside Palestine, including political arrests, and especially against journalists who try to express their views freely
Mustafa Barghouti, secretary general of the Palestinian National Initiative party, also attended the demonstration on Saturday in support of Awawdeh and other political detainees.
“We completely refuse any form of political oppression inside Palestine, including political arrests, and especially against journalists who try to express their views freely,” Barghouti told The Media Line.
He said that Abbas’ attempt to build unity between his own Fatah party and the rival Hamas party has been impeded by the crackdown on opposition.
“These actions of political arrests are totally contradictory to the call for a meeting of the heads of all Palestinian political parties to move towards unity,” he said.
He urged both the PA and Hamas, which controls Gaza, to end political arrests.
“It reflects weakness of the political establishment and weakness of the political system,” he said.
Dr. Issam Abdeen, a Ramallah-based expert on human rights law, told The Media Line that the PA’s campaign of political arrests and crackdown on dissidents is meant to inspire fear and despair among the public.
He attributed the trend of political arrests, which he described as crimes against humanity, to PA officials’ desperate attempts to cling to power.
Abdeen called on Volker Türk, United Nations high commissioner for human rights, to publicly address the PA’s human rights violations.
Palestinian human rights activist Omar Assaf told The Media Line that the PA will change its policy only with sufficient domestic and international pressure. He described the increase in political arrests as a sign of the “fragility, weakness, and isolation of the PA.”
Ahmad Rafiq Awad, president of the Center for Jerusalem Studies at Al-Quds University, similarly said that the PA’s policy of political arrests suggests the body’s “weakness” and “insecurity.”
“I stand completely against political arrest under any justification,” he told The Media Line. “We are practically under a cruel and rude occupation that does not respect us, our humanity, and violates our rights. Thus, political arrest completely complicates the picture and divides the Palestinian street.”
On Friday, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) issued a statement denouncing Awawdeh’s arrest and calling for his immediate release.
“His detention constitutes a serious violation of freedom of opinion and the right to express it,” the IFJ said in the statement.
The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate also condemned Awawdeh’s arrest and demanded his immediate release, saying his arrest constituted a gross violation of freedom of opinion and expression. The group specifically condemned the choice to arrest Awawdeh immediately before the weekend began, which, it said, was done in order “to prevent his speedy release.”
Hebron-based activist Issa Amro told The Media Line that activists are often victims of oppression from Palestinian security services.
“The security services oppress freedom of opinion activists, arrest them, and practice torture extensively, especially in the intelligence apparatus,” he said.
