The Jerusalem Magistrates' Court set a legal precedent Tuesday, by ruling that inflammatory statements expressed on Facebook constitute grounds for a criminal conviction. Omar Shalabi, 44, the secretary-general of Fatah's Jerusalem branch and a resident of the Palestinian village of Eizariya, east of Jerusalem, was sentenced to nine months in prison for online incitement to violence and support of terrorism. He was convicted as part of a plea bargain reached with the State Attorney's Office. This was the first time that an Israeli court has rendered a conviction over inflammatory statements made on social media. According to the indictment, Shalabi wrote dozens of Facebook posts supporting violence and terrorism, and lauding the actions of terrorists and terror groups. His comments were made last summer, following the June abduction of Israeli teens Gil-ad Shaer, Eyal Yifrach, and Naftali Frenkel, Operation Protective Edge in the Gaza Strip, launched in early July, and a series of violent riots that swept through east Jerusalem over the summer. At the time, Shalabi's Facebook account numbered 5,000 friends and 755 followers. The indictment listed 10 posts inciting violence and lauding terrorism: seven posts whose dates coincided with terrorist attacks and urged violence against Israelis, and three posts that lauded terrorists who murdered Israelis. "The defendant's acts abused the right of free speech thus undermining the state as a democracy ensuring civil liberties," prosecutor Yifat Pinhasi argued. The prosecution further argued that the use of a social media platform as popular as Facebook constituted aggravating circumstances to the indictment, over the ease in which Shalabi was able to spread his provocative remarks. Shalabi's attorney, Tariq Barghout, argued that this was an uncharted legal realm, which mandated Facebook users be warned that their posts may exceed the limits of online free speech. "This case has unique characteristics, over the manner of incitement, and the nature and scope of the posts, as well as their timing," the court said in its ruling. "The defense is correct in arguing that the way in which this incitement was spread constitutes a legal realm devoid of prior punitive settings, and therefore it warrants setting scaled punitive action. Nevertheless, this argument carries only minimal weight, as this is not a new offense never before introduced in court, but rather a new application that makes use of innovative technology," the court said. Judge Eitan Kornhauser, who presided over the hearing, further described Shalabi's posts as "grave incitement, praising heinous murderers and encouraging others to carry out similar acts." Clear-cut boundaries and punitive action must be set for such offenses, he said, "so to serve as a warning to anyone armed with a keyboard."
Fatah official to be jailed over inciting Facebook posts
Jerusalem Magistrates' Court sets legal precedent, orders head of Fatah's Jerusalem branch serve nine months in prison over online incitement to violence, terrorism • Sentence should "serve as a warning to anyone armed with a keyboard," judge says.
Load more...