Palestinian student Hala Bitar sentenced to 4 months imprisonment as child Ahmad Manasrah’s hearing rescheduled

hala-bitar-4mPalestinian student Hala Bitar was ordered to four months’ imprisonment for her participation in a book fair organized by student groups at Al-Quds University. Bitar was arrested on 19 April along with two other women students at the university’s Abu Dis campus, Salam Abu Sharar and Nour al-Islam Darwish, the day that student elections were being conducted, part of an ongoing campaign of harassment and repression directed against Palestinian student politics.

samahdweikcourtAlso facing Israeli courts yesterday was another Palestinian Jerusalemite, imprisoned journalist Samah Dweik, whose hearing on charges of “incitement” for posting on facebook was set for next Monday, 18 July. Dweik has been jailed since 10 April since an early-morning raid on her home in the Ras al-Amud neighborhood of Silwan.

Meanwhile, the hearing of Ahmad Manasrah, the Palestinian 14-year-old threatened with a life sentence whose case has become internationally prominent after videos of him being abused while injured circulated internationally, was rescheduled for 22 September.

manasrah-court-postponed