This page is subject to the extended confirmed restriction related to the Arab-Israeli conflict.Issa Amro (Arabic: عيسى عمرو; April 13, 1980) is a Palestinian activist based in Hebron, West Bank.

[8][9][needs update] In May 2017, Bernie Sanders along with three U.S. senators and 32 congressmen wrote to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to urge Israeli authorities to reconsider the charges against Amro.

In March, 2019, Amnesty International demanded that the Palestinian authorities drop all charges against him, adding "It is disgraceful that Issa Amro is facing a prison term simply for expressing his views promoting human rights online.

[19] Amro is the coordinator Youth Against Settlements (YAS), which he describes as his major project to involve young Palestinians in nonviolent resistance against the Israeli occupation.

[22] At the regular session of the UN Human Rights Council in September 2015, Amro said that he was "extremely concerned" with the situation in Palestine during this time and stated that "the erupting violence over the past weeks…can only end when international law is applied."

He mentioned the case of 18-year-old Hadil Hashlamoun, who on the 22 September of that year had been shot and killed by Israeli forces, and whose death was reported as "unlawful" by Amnesty International:[23][24][25] "Mr. President, I was present when they took her body away, and saw the settlers and soldiers rejoice at her fate.

A video had been published by B'Tselem showing Israeli soldier Elor Azaria shooting Abdel Fattah al-Sharif in the head at point-blank range, while the Palestinian was lying wounded on the ground.

Instead, he blamed the normalization of anti-Palestinian hatred within the Israeli military, and Benjamin Netanyahu for "pulling verbal triggers of incitement" and denying freedom for Palestinians with his politics.

[28] In October 2024, Amro and YAS were distinguished with the Swedish Right Livelihood Award, "for their steadfast nonviolent resistance to Israel’s illegal occupation, promoting Palestinian civic action through peaceful means.

Juan E. Mendez, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on torture, expressed deep concern for Amro's "life, physical integrity and the psychological toll that [this harassment] is having on his health and family.

Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Margaret Sekaggya, described the acts against Amro as an "unacceptable campaign of harassment, intimidation and reprisals."

Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, Maina Kiai, called for the protection of Youth Against Settlements members and for "those responsible for the unacceptable acts against Mr. Amro [to be] held accountable."

[36][37][38][39][40][41] In response to the event, Amnesty International released a statement about Amro's arrest, which called for the Israeli government to "cease intimidation of human rights defenders.

The charges include the accusations from March along with "insulting a soldier," "spitting in the direction of a settler," "entering a closed military zone," and other apparent offenses.

The appeal was sent to Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and called for the charges against Amro to be dropped and for an end to the harassment against him.

Writers Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman wrote about Amro's trial in an article for The New York Times entitled “Who’s Afraid of Nonviolence”, in which they condemned the charges.

[52] The actual offense was "denouncing on Facebook the arrest of a journalist calling for the resignation of PA head",[52] acts which others have been tantamount to criticizing the Palestinian Authority.