Palestinian activist and Israeli citizen detained over Facebook posts

A prominent Palestinian activist and citizen of Israel is currently detained by Israeli authorities over Facebook posts, reports legal rights centre Adalah.

Raja Eghbaria, a member of the High Follow-Up Committee for Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel and the leader of the Abnaa Al-Balad political movement, was arrested by police on Tuesday morning, and interrogated “about Facebook status updates he posted over the past 12 months”.

On Wednesday, an Israeli court ruled that Eghbaria remain in detention for another five days, without an indictment, “while police continue their investigation into his Facebook posts”.

The investigation focused on alleged “incitement to terrorism”, and the prosecution presented “classified materials” to the court.

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The decision came despite the fact that “Israeli police had already admitted that they had exhausted all their questions” during the seven-hour interrogation.

Yesterday, and following Adalah’s appeal to Haifa District Court, Eghbaria’s detention was shortened to Sunday at 11am from Monday.

“The district court noted that should the state wish to extend Eghbaria’s detention, the magistrate’s court must consider alternatives to detention,” stated an Adalah spokesperson.

Israel pass Facebook Bill which will authorise deleting content considered incitement – Cartoon [Sabaaneh/MiddleEastMonitor]