Dareen Tatour is a Palestinian poet, photographer, and social media activist from Reineh, Israel, who writes in Arabic, her mother tongue. Following the publication of a poem on social media, she was tried and convicted in 2018 in an Israeli court for "inciting violence" and "supporting a terrorist organisation", being released in September, 2018. In May 2019, her conviction for the poem was overturned but her conviction for other social media posts was upheld. In 2019, she received the Oxfam Novib/PEN Award for Freedom of Expression.
Social media posts and arrest
She has published her work on Facebook, and YouTube. In October 2015, Tatour published a poem on YouTube and Facebook titled "Qawem Ya Shaabi Qawemahum", where the words were cited as the soundtrack to images of Palestinians in violent confrontations with Israeli troops. This led to her arrest and indictment for incitement to violence and for support of a terrorist organization. A full translation of the poem as made by a police officer is cited in the indictment document. The rest of the indictment relates to three Facebook publications: the picture of Israa Abed, a women from Nazareth, laid on the ground of the central bus station in Afula after she was shot by Israeli soldiers and guards; a profile picture with the Arabic writing "Ana Al-Shahid Al-Jay" ; and a post citing the call by Islamic Jihad for Intifada in the West Bank and calling for Intifada inside the green line for the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Reactions
According to the BBC, "the poet's case has become a cause celebre for free speech advocates and has drawn attention to a recent rise in Israeli arrests - of Israeli Arabs and Palestinians in the occupied West Bank - accused of incitement or planning attacks online" The PEN American Center condemned her arrest and sentencing in 2016, organized letter-writing campaigns on her behalf, and following her conviction in May 2018 stated that the conviction “relies on a wanton mischaracterization of her work and is an unacceptable attack on freedom of expression in Israel”. Her arrest was condemned by Jewish Voice for Peace.
Trial, sentence and successful appeal
She was convicted on May 3, 2018, and on 31 July 2018 sentenced to five months' imprisonment. She was released in September, 2018. In May 2019, the Nazareth District Court overturned her conviction for the poem, though not the convictions for other social media posts. The court ruled that the poem did not "involve unequivocal remarks that would provide the basis for a direct call to carry out acts". The court noted that Tatour was known as a poet and that "freedom of expression is accorded added weight when it also involves freedom of artistic and creative ".
