Ref: 123/2020

Date: 22 November 2020

Time: 15:00 GMT

On Saturday, 21 November 2020, the Palestinian Criminal Police in Hebron referred Nizar Banat to the Public Prosecution; he was charged with slander of public authorities for a video he posted criticizing the Palestinian Authority (PA). The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) demands Banat’s immediate release and asserts that sharp criticism falls within the principle of freedom of expression as stipulated in Article 19 of the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which is binding to the PA as a State Party to the Convention since its accession in 2014.

According to PCHR’s follow-up, a security force raided Nizar K. M. Banat’s (42) home in Ghunaim area, eastern Dura in the south-west of Hebron, at approximately 01:00 on Friday, 20 November 2020. According to his wife’s statement, they arrested Banat and confiscated his cell phone without a warrant from the Public Prosecution; he was transported to the Criminal Police Station in Hebron. The arrest was motivated by a video Banat posted on Wednesday, 18 November 2020, criticizing the Minister of Civil Affairs and the Palestinian government for resuming security coordination with Israel. At approximately 13:00 on Saturday, Banat was referred to the Public Prosecution at Dura Magistrate Court where his detention was renewed for 48 hours for slandering public authorities. Banat’s arrest is in violation of Article 191 of the Penal Code, as evident in Article 45 of the Cybercrimes law by decree. He was afterwards transported to Jericho prison. According to his lawyer’s statement to PCHR fieldworker, Banat started a hunger strike from the first day of his arrest, despite having kidney disease.

PCHR affirms that Banat’s arrest is contrast with the principles of the Palestinian Basic Law, particularly Article 19 that stresses the right to freedom of expression; it also violates Palestine’s international obligations under ICCPR Article (19). The UN Human Rights Commission, which monitors the application of ICCPR, stressed in its General Comment No. 34 that freedom of expression includes sharp criticism of authorities and demanded authorities be lenient with political criticism and to ensure it is not criminalized in applicable laws.

Accordingly, PCHR calls for the Attorney General to intervene to release Banat and to restrain security services’ overreach and abuses of rights and freedoms enshrined in the Palestinian Basic Law as well as international laws binding to Palestine.

PCHR also calls upon security services to respect the freedom of expression and Palestine’s international obligations in their work, particularly its obligations under the international human rights law.