10 days after arrest for Facebook post: Akka Court extends detention of 19-year-old Anas Khateeb for alleged incitement

Today 27 October 2015, the Akka (Acre) Magistrates’ Court decided to extend the detention of 19-year-old Anas Khateeb, a Palestinian citizen of Israel from Shefa-'Amr in the north, until 26 November 2015.

The court held a hearing today on the police's request to extend the detention of Mr. Khateeb until the end of his trial, based on comments that he published on his Facebook page that allegedly constitute “incitement to violence and terrorism”. These posts allegedly included the terms "Jerusalem is Arab" and the slogan "Long live the intifada" and "I am on the waiting list."

Mr. Khateeb was arrested on 16 October 2015 and has remained in detention since that date, despite representations and appeals by Adalah against the repeated extension of detention orders.

Throughout the hearings, Adalah lawyers representing Mr. Khateeb argued that his detention amounts to a serious violation of his right of political expression: "The aim of the continued detention and criminalization of Mr. Khateeb is to intimidate and deeply frighten Palestinian society from using social media to express their support for their own people."

Adalah emphasized that: "The criminal charge of incitement has very clear legal grounds, including that the incitement has to be clear, specific and concrete, and not subject to loose interpretation. The meaning of the speaker's comments cannot be unclear. Also, the law provides that conduct only constitutes incitement when there is a real and strong possibility that others will be encouraged to commit violent acts based on this speech. In the case of Mr. Khateeb, Adalah stressed that the Facebook posts do not refer to any event or individual, and that the accused does not have any power to influence the public. This lack of influence is apparent as the most popular of his writings, as noted in the charge sheet, did not receive more than 70 likes on Facebook."

"The aim of the continued detention and criminalization of Mr. Khateeb is to intimidate and deeply frighten Palestinian society from using social media to express their support for their own people."

Notably, Adalah has made numerous requests to the Israeli Attorney General to open investigations and prosecutions against Israeli political leaders, including ministers, concerning their racist and inflammatory statements, which could constitute incitement. For example, former Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, the head of the Yisrael Beiteinu political party, stated against the Palestinian citizens of Israel that,  “for those who are against us, we must raise the axe and cut off their heads." Current Minister of Education and then Minister of Industry, Trade and Labor, Naftali Bennett, the leader of the Jewish Home political party, stated in 2013 "I’ve killed many Arabs in my life, there's no problem with that."

However, in both of these cases, the AG refused to open investigations and prosecute these ministers, despite the fact that the individuals, who are political leaders, do influence and impact hundreds of thousands of people who support them and their political parties.  See Adalah’s press release, “State Attorney's office rejects request for criminal investigation into Lieberman's "ax" comment,” 1 June 2015; and Adalah’s press release, “Adalah Demands Criminal Investigation into Minister Naftali Bennett for Incitement to Violence,” 1 August 2013.

Adalah lawyers argued that the state is trying to exploit the current security situation in order to extend the detention of Palestinian Arab youth for long periods of time. Further, the trial of the political activists due to their anti-Occupation writings could lead to a serious slippery slope, with Israel potentially arresting hundreds of Palestinians, including citizens of Israel, because of legitimate political positions such as using the slogan, "Jerusalem is Arab."  In this case, as well as numerous others particularly regarding Palestinian youth in Jerusalem, making arrests on the basis of their Facebook posts may lead to a serious and recently unprecedented level of suppression of freedom of political expression of Palestinians.