A group of Arab human rights organizations issued a public statement today asserting that the Palestinian Military Court ruling against Palestinian journalist Tareq Abu Zeid is "illegal and unjust". The ruling is regarded as a legal precedent and is a violation of the standards for the protection of freedom of speech and expression. The relationship between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas has significantly deteriorated since June 2007.

On 16 February 2010, the Palestinian Military Court issued a one and half year prison sentence against Tareq Abu Zeid, a reporter for "Al-Aqsa" (a Hamas-affiliated television network).

The Military Court ruling came as a shock to Abu Zeid's family as well as the Jerusalem Center for Legal Aid and Human Rights, which has been acting in Abu Zeid's defense since his arrest by Palestinian Military Intelligence on 8 November 2009.

According to a joint-report by the Centre for the Defense of Media Freedoms "Skies" and Jerusalem Center lawyer Bassam Karajh, "The defense of detainee Abu Zeid resulted in The Palestinian High Court's decision to release him, and to cancel the Chief of Military Justice's order for his arrest."

He added: "Unfortunately, we waited for the intelligence agency's implementation of the resolution but that did not happen, so the Center sent a copy of the Abu Zeid's release order to The Council of Ministers, in order for them to direct the Intelligence Services to release him."

Karajh confirmed, "The non-implementation of the court's ruling by the military court was contrary to Article (106) of the Palestinian Basic Law, which stipulates that judicial decisions are enforceable and that non-implementation is considered a violation of the law and is punishable by imprisonment and removal from office, if the omission was by a public servant."

According to sources at Nablus City Military Prosecution, Tareq Abu Zeid was sentenced to a year and a half on charges of seditious acts, imparting information and smuggling money to parties hostile to the Palestinian National Authority in a manner contrary to the provisions of Palestinian law.

The institutions and organizations signing this statement, alongside lawyers and Palestinian legal experts, stress that the Palestinian Military Court does not have the authority to use its jurisdiction over civilians and is therefore undermining the powers of civil courts. Civilians should under no circumstance be presented before the Court as this contradicts the Palestinian Basic Law, as well as the Palestinian Constitution.

The Military Justice Panel, through the military tribunals, applies the Revolutionary Penal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure; both of these are considered law by the Palestinian Liberation Organization since 1978, which has adjudicated them and held field court-martials based on them while in Lebanon.

The government of Dr. Salam Fayyad banned Hamas-affiliated "Al-Aqsa" from working in the West Bank on 16 September 2007.

The ruling against Abu Zeid sparked a large wave of anger in the media, which consider his trial as not only a political crime, but an attack on press freedom and a new setback to freedom of speech and expression in the Palestinian Territories.

Abu Zeid, who comes from Jenin in the northern West Bank, was arrested by Israeli forces and spent about 11 months in the Negev desert prison before being released on 16 December 2008. He was later arrested on 27 August 2009, by the Palestinian intelligence service, where he remained for 22 days.

His most recent arrest by the Palestinian intelligence services took place on 8 November 2009, however, at the time, he was already held at Al-Junayd prison in Nablus. He was subsequently detained at the disposal of the military judiciary.

The human rights organizations which are signatories to this statement strongly denounce and condemn the fact that these reporters are presented before military courts in an attempt to silence them. We further call upon the Palestinian Authority leadership to immediately intervene, requesting that the judicial authorities reverse the unjust sentence against Abu Zaid and immediately release him and the following detainee journalists from the Security Services prison in the West Bank:

Yazid Khedr, Moaz Asaluady, Mohammed Besharat, Mustafa Sabri

Respect for the inviolability of freedom of speech and freedom of expression has become a matter of seminal importance throughout the Palestinian Territories.

Organizations and institutions presented as signatories:

1. The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information / Egypt
2. The Euro-Arab Center for Human Rights and International Law / Norway
3. The Lebanese Human Rights Foundation
4. Al-Fajr Newspaper
5. National Organization for Human Rights in Syria
6. The Committee of the Defense of journalists in Syria
7. The Syrian Association for the Human Rights Defense
8. The Syria Alliance Against the Death Penalty
9. The Syrian Center for Prisoners Assistance
10. The Palestinian Human Rights Foundation (Monitor) Lebanon - Palestine
11. Alkarama / Switzerland - Lebanon
12. The Equality Network for Human Rights Education and Civic Culture
13. The Solidarity for Human Rights / Libya
14. The Palestinian Media Forum / Palestine
15. The Protection Center to Support the Defenders of Human Rights / Egypt
16. The Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of speech
17. Arab Center for Information / Palestine
18. The name of the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression
19. The International Coalition to Prosecute War Criminals / Norway - France
20. Scandinavian Institute for Human Rights / Norway
21. Reporters Without restrictions / Morocco
22. Arab Medical Union
23. Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy, "Shames" / Palestine
24. Organization for the Safety International - Norway
25. Cairo Center for Development - Egypt
26. One World Foundation for Development / Egypt
27. Sabiroon Foundation for the Defense of Prisoners / Syria
28. Kuwait Society for the Anti-Racial Discrimination