Amnesty International said that the Electronic Crimes Law adopted by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in July violates citizens’ rights to privacy and freedom of expression and blatantly flouts the State of Palestine’s obligations under international law.
Amnesty said in a report that the law imposes heavy fines and permits the arbitrary detention of anyone critical of the Palestinian authorities online including journalists and whistleblowers.
It could also be used to target anyone for simply sharing or retweeting such news. Anyone who is deemed to have disturbed “public order” “national unity” or “social peace” could be sentenced to imprisonment and up to 15 years hard labor the report pointed out.
“Instead of presiding over a chilling campaign designed to silence dissent intimidate journalists and breach the privacy of individuals the Palestinian authorities must stop arbitrarily detaining journalists and drop charges against anyone prosecuted for freely expressing themselves. They must also urgently repeal the Electronic Crimes Law” said Magdalena Mughrabi Deputy Middle East and North Africa Director at Amnesty International.
In June several weeks before the Electronic Crimes Law came into force Palestinian Authority arbitrarily ordered internet service providers in the West Bank to block access to 29 websites. They include websites belonging to political parties opposition and independent media outlets and the al-Quds network a volunteer-run community online news outlet.
According to the report the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank is responsible for 81 attacks on media freedom since the start of the year.
