Jerusalem24 – The Israeli court in Jerusalem released journalist Lama Ghosheh under house arrest this afternoon, with an added condition not to access the internet, according to her lawyer Nasser Odeh.
Odeh told Al-Qastal in an interview that this morning they appealed yesterday’s decision to extend her detention and requested her immediate release, but that the court rejected the appeal.
Odeh said they were then able to convince the court to release her under house arrest with a bail of 50,000 shekels, and on the condition that she not access the internet or make use of a computer or phone. Odeh stated they are working on appealing some of the conditions for her release over the next few days.
News of Ghosheh’s release is trending on social media after a video showing her in court yesterday calling for her release and demanding to see her children.
Israeli authorities extend the detention of Palestinian Jerusalemite journalist Lama Ghosheh until 18 September.
Ghosheh was detained from her parents’ home in Sheikh Jarrah in occupied East Jerusalem.
Video credit: Al-Qastal#Palestine #Jerusalem #Israel #Press #PressFreedom pic.twitter.com/eq8JApZl2Y
— Jerusalem24 (@J24FMPalestine) September 12, 2022
Ghosheh’s husband Yassin Sobeih wrote on Facebook on 10 September that their eldest son Carmel “realized the meaning of absence” when Sobeih was arrested last year, but that “this year was even harder because it’s the mother who’s absent.”
“They witnessed [the arrest] with their own eyes. [3-year-old] Qais locks the doors for fear of the ‘army’.”
Sobeih said their daughter Carmel decided to postpone her fifth birthday party until her mother could join them.
30-year-old Ghosheh, a Palestinian journalist who is very active on social media, was detained on 4 September after Israeli forces raided her home in Sheikh Jarrah, confiscated her electronic devices, and proceeded to arrest her in front of her two children.
Ghosheh’s name has been trending on social media since then as she is well-known to Palestinians for her activism, her work as a journalist, and her documentation of the takeover of Sheikh Jarrah’s homes by Israeli settlers.
Ghosheh works as a journalist at Al-Qastal news network.
As of March 2022, there were 10 Palestinian journalists in Israeli prisons on charges relating to publishing materials online — either as private individuals or through their professional work — that were deemed “incitement”, according to an investigation by The Intercept published in April this year.
In December 2021, the Israeli Ministerial Committee for Legislation unanimously approved the Bill for Preventing Incitement on Social Media 2021 – the so-called “Facebook Bill“. According to digital rights NGO 7amleh, this bill has been used to justify the removal of content, the harassment of Palestinian journalists and content creators, as well as arrests and charges of incitement.
