A gag order placed by Israel’s security forces on the press regarding the arrest of Arab human-rights activist Ameer Makhoul and pharmacologist Dr. Omar Sa’id has been lifted by an Israeli court following an appeal filed by a human-rights group.
Both Israeli citizens have been accused by Israel’s security forces of meeting a foreign agent and of espionage. Their detention has been extended until early next week.
According to the human-rights group Adalah the charge of ‘meeting a foreign agent’ has ‘no basis’ and is merely ‘a loose charge that allows the GSS [Israel’s secret security service, or Shin Bet] to criminalize almost any Arab who establishes legitimate relations with political and social activists in the Arab world.’
The group’s Director Hassan Jabareen says there is ‘a grave suspicion’ that Ameer Makhoul’s arrest is politically motivated because of his role in struggling against the political persecution of Arab citizens of Israel.
Makhoul has been prevented from seeing a lawyer since his arrest on 6 May 2010. All appeals on that count have been rejected by an Israeli District Court.
Dr. Omar Sa’id was arrested by security forces on 24 April 2010 while attempting to leave the country. It was only sixteen days after his arrest, during which time he had been subjected to continuous interrogation, that the security services permitted Sa’id to meet his lawyers.
Sa’id lives in the village of Kufr Kanna, has a Ph.D. degree in pharmacology and runs a leading company in natural medicine.
Sa’id has a long history of political activism and testified that all of his activity is open and motivated by legitimate political goals. He has denied all charges against him.
Thousands of Arab and Jewish demonstrators demonstrated in Haifa on Tuesday in protest against the arrests, and hundreds arrived at Petach Tiqva District Court on Wednesday, where the detention of the activists was extended and appeals against denial of legal counsel overruled.
The arrests of Makhoul and Sa’id come against a backdrop of increased attacks on Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel, including the recent indictment of two Arab Members of Knesset – MKs Mohammed Barakeh and Said Naffa’ and an earlier indictment of Sheikh Raed Salah, the Head of the Islamic Movement in Israel – for political activities, as well as attacks against Jewish and Arab human rights organizations in Israel working to defend Palestinian rights.
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