2019-10-24

West Bank

Human Rights Defenders / West Bank / position paper

“No To Silencers”

The Decree-Law on Cyber Crimes Shall Be Abolished Immediately and the Justice System Shall Be Rebuilt With Community Will

MUSAWA- The Palestinian Center for The independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession was not surprised by the security services’ request submitted to the Public Prosecution, asking for a judicial decision to block several media websites under the notorious cybercrime decree-law. However, the context in which this decision was issued reveals the true face of the oppressive police regime that rules the country, as manifested in the following:

1. The fact that the security services have all the powers in the governance of internal affairs, and that they act with full independence from their constitutional authority, was blatantly expressed by the executive authority’s announcement that it asked the Public Prosecution  to reconsider its decision to block about 60 media websites, which was decided on the grounds that the opinions published by those sites involve assaults and insults against the symbols of the authority, which would threaten national security and civil peace, provoke public opinion, and disturb order! Indicating that the security services control the government and the decision-making authority, that they would not mind violating the freedom of citizens and the country to serve their security considerations, that the government is unable to exercise its powers and authorities, and that it has objectively and willingly abandoned its powers as an executive authority and granted them to services that are supposed to be affiliated with it.
2. The proceedings and actions taken by the Public Prosecution and the Magistrate's Court in implementation of the will of the security services, confirm their subordination to the security services, in disregard of their jurisprudence and the Public Prosecution’s role in representing the Government, as the competent executive authority.
3. The decision to block the 60 websites, all at once, represents an imposition of collective punishments, which have been abolished by all legal states and good governance systems, indicating an expansion of the security approach and policies, which are no longer limited to administrative detention, but also includes the imposition of collective penalties that restrict the freedom of opinion and expression, discard the second title of the Basic Law on the protection of citizens' rights and freedoms, removed the right to participate in political life detailed in Article 26 of the Basic Law, and violated the provisions of many constitutional rights, in particular the provisions of article 5 of the Basic law, which indicates that political and party pluralism shall be the basis of the governing system in Palestine, article 2, which confirms that The people are the source of power, article 9, which emphasizes that Palestinians shall be equal before the law and the judiciary, without distinction based upon race, sex, color, religion, political views or disability, article 10, which stresses that Basic human rights and liberties are binging and shall be protected and respected, article 19, which prohibits prejudicing the freedom of opinion expressed orally, in writing or in any form of expression or art, article 27, which affirms the Freedom of audio, visual, and written media as well as freedom to print, publish, distribute and transmit, and article 32, which provides that any violation of any personal freedom, of the sanctity of the private life of human beings, or of any of the rights or liberties that have been guaranteed by law or by this Basic Law shall be considered a crime, and that the criminal and civil cases resulting from such violations may not be subject to any statute of limitations 
4. The blocking of media websites through the Public Prosecution and the courts represents a return to the so-called Inquisition, a tool used by authoritarian regimes in the dark ages.
5. The implementation of the security will through the Public Prosecution  and the judiciary represents the withdrawal of the State of Palestine from the international covenants and conventions to which it has acceded, and a flagrant violation of the provisions of the International Bill of Rights, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and justifying such violations using justifications that are inconsistent with the contents of that Bill, reflecting the iron fist of the security services that do not respect differing views, its approach of acquisition and exclusion, and use of the prosecution and the judiciary as tools to impose the policies of a totalitarian regime.
6. The enforcement of the blocking decision for six consecutive months, which was characterized as a precautionary measure, is a sanction imposed under a decree-law that should not have been passed or accepted in the first place, because it deviated from the objectives of passing legislation on human rights guarantees and citizen’s privacy, and because it violated those guarantees and using legislation as a tool of suppression of freedoms.
7. The enforcement of the blocking decision has shown that the level of freedoms in Palestine is at rock bottom, in contrast to the statements made by government and prosecution officials that the level of freedom of opinion in Palestine is high and that the aim of the judiciary and the Public Prosecution is to preserve individual and public rights and freedoms.
8. By interpreting the opinions published in the blocked websites as an attack on the symbols of the authority, the blocking decision contradicts the citizen's right to criticize the performance of public officials guaranteed by the international constitutional courts, which requires public employees to accept objective, non-personal criticism.
9. The blocking decision is an ominous threat to the integrity, lawfulness, and respect for the results of general elections violates the right of citizens to choose their leadership and undermines the aspirations of our people to build a democratic and pluralistic system of government, based on active participation and reflecting the free will of the people.
10. The adoption and enforcement of the blocking decision in such a manner, calls us not to place a high value on the sincerity of the executive authority’s intention to reform the justice system, as its approach expresses its will to hegemony, to expand the security services’ unlawful control over the judiciary, thus we affirm the demand for real and serious reform of the judiciary, with a participatory will to ensure its independent, impartial and fair reconstruction.

In the face of such facts, MUSAWA calls for abolishing the decree-law Law on Cybercrime, redrafting it, and promulgating it by the elected Legislative Council, in a manner that respects the requirements of human rights and freedoms, the Basic Law, and international conventions and covenants, and prevents the security services from abusing it in contradiction with constitutional principles and human rights requirements. We reaffirm the need to reform the justice system following MUSAWA’s declared initiative, separately from the domination and hegemony of the executive authority. Finally, we quote the Naji Al Ali’s signature line, “No to Silencers”, praying that his soul rests in peace.   

Issued on 24/10/2019

MUSAWA