Israeli investigators detained a Palestinian Ph.D. student for affiliation to Islamic Movement Hamas, based on comments and ‘likes’ on Facebook, the Solidarity Foundation for Human Rights (SFHR) reported in the Middle East Monitor.
SFHR researcher, Ahmed al-Betawi, said that the Israeli forces detained the 26 year old Palestinian student, Mosab abul-Reesh, who is carrying out Ph. D research in Cyprus, when he entered the country to spend the holiday with his family in Hebron.
Investigators at an Israeli prison accused him of being a member of Hamas based on comments and ‘likes’ that he had made on Facebook.
Information from Abul-Reesh’s Facebook account indicates that he ‘liked’ several comments of Palestinian Facebook users who the Israeli’s accused of being affiliated to Hamas.
Ahmed Al-Betawi said that Israeli investigators have recently started asking prisoners whether they have Facebook accounts or not. “It they answer yes, they are obliged to give the investigators access to it and they search the accounts, violating the right to privacy,” he said.
