Dareen Tatour

[1] She was tried, convicted, and sentenced to five months in prison by an Israeli court in 2018 for "inciting violence" and "supporting a terrorist organisation" in postings on social media, one of which was a video that included a reading of her poem.

The rest of the indictment relates to three Facebook publications: (i) the picture of Israa Abed, a woman from Nazareth, laid on the ground of the central bus station in Afula after she was shot by Israeli soldiers and guards; (ii) a profile picture with the Arabic writing "Ana Al-Shahid Al-Jay" ("I am the next martyr"); and (iii) a post citing the call by Islamic Jihad for Intifada in the West Bank and calling for Intifada inside the green line for Al-Aqsa.

[11] The posts coincided with the so-called "Knife Intifada", a wave of daily Palestinian stabbings which had begun in 2015, had killed dozens of Israelis in a matter of months, and had been widely attributed to social-media encouragement.

[12][13][14] Israeli investigators asserted that: "The content, its exposure and the circumstances of its publication created a real possibility that acts of violence or terrorism will be committed.

According to the BBC, by 2018 "the poet's case has become a cause celebre for free speech advocates and has drawn attention to a recent rise in Israeli arrests - of Israeli Arabs and Palestinians in the occupied West Bank - accused of incitement or planning attacks online"[12] The PEN American Center condemned her arrest and sentencing in 2016,[15][16] organized letter-writing campaigns on her behalf,[17] and following her conviction in May 2018 stated that the conviction “relies on a wanton mischaracterization of her work and is an unacceptable attack on freedom of expression in Israel”.

Dareen Tatour