Palestinian journalist to remain under house arrest, Israeli court decides
Occupied Jerusalem (QNN)- An Israeli occupation court has postponed the trial session of Palestinian journalist Lama Ghosheh until December, keeping her under house arrest and banning her from using the internet and social media.
The Israeli District Court delayed the trial session of Abu Ghosheh as it was scheduled for today and renewed the restrictions imposed against the journalist.
In September, the Israeli Court released Ghosheh on conditions not to use smartphones, computers, and the internet, to remain under house arrest, and to pay a $15,000 bail, according to her lawyer, Nasser Odeh.
Odeh added, “These are the conditions at the moment, but we hope that some of these conditions will be eased or canceled in the coming days.”
In a September hearing session, Ghosheh was brought handcuffed and complained about the harsh conditions of her detention in solitary confinement at the Israeli Hasharon Prison, the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) said.
Photos of the trial session of Palestinian journalist Lama Ghousha at an Israeli court where he detention was extended until next Sunday.#FreeThemAll #SaveSheikhJarrah pic.twitter.com/YoTgmhku6Y
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) September 12, 2022
The journalist reportedly cried and demanded her release to reunite with her two children.
“I want my children,” Abu Ghosheh said while crying during her trial session.
Media coverage : "Israeli occupation forces extended the detention of Palestinian journalist Lama Ghousha until next Sunday." #FreeThemAll #SaveSheikhJarrah pic.twitter.com/IsVbezoENK
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) September 12, 2022
"I want my children"
Palestinian journalist Lama Ghousha, who's been in Israeli detention for a few days, appears crying during her trial session in an Israeli court, demanding her right to reunite with her children. pic.twitter.com/xuSxoRKbtR
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) September 12, 2022
It was the fourth time Ghosheh’s detention was extended since her arrest on September 4, 2022.
Ghosheh is a mother of two children, Karmel, 5, and Qais, 3. She is a journalist and currently working as a researcher at the Palestinian Museum in Birzeit, north of Ramallah, and doing a master’s degree in Israeli studies.
Ghosheh’s husband, Yassin Sobeih, told local media that Lama is facing significant incitement charges through Facebook posts, which she denies.
Sobeih, a former detainee in Israeli prisons, said that Israeli occupation had scared his children during the arrest raid on the family home in Sheikh Jarrah in occupied Jerusalem and vandalized most of its contents. Ghosheh’s laptop and smartphone were also confiscated during the arrest.
Odeh said the Israeli prosecution had informed him of its intention to present charges of “incitement” against Ghosheh for publishing the pictures of Palestinian resistance fighters on her social media accounts.
“It seems that Lama will be facing a trial over a concrete accusation rather than an administrative detention without charges,” Sobeih told The New Arab.
“Despite this, the “incitement” charge is being used by the occupation authorities, just like the administrative detention, as an excuse to arrest anybody for their speech, especially journalists,” he said.
“Lama had already been called for interrogation over her journalistic work once,” he added. “There has always been a tension at home for the risks she takes doing her job.”
According to the Palestinian Journalists Union, Israeli forces and settlers committed 479 violations against Palestinian journalists in the first half of 2022.
These include the killing in early June of 31-year-old Ghufran Warasneh in Al-Aroub refugee camp near Hebron, on her first day of work at a local radio, and the killing in May of Al Jazeera veteran reporter Shireen Abu Akleh while covering an Israeli raid in the Jenin refugee camp.
According to the union, Israeli violations include 35 Palestinian journalists with bullet-related injuries, 18 cases of arrest, 24 confiscations of material, 80 cases of beating, and 175 cases of journalists not being allowed to perform their work.
Currently, 16 Palestinian journalists are held in Israeli prisons for practicing the right of freedom of expression and documenting the Israeli occupation crimes against the Palestinians.
