A court in Israel has convicted an Israeli Arab poet of inciting violence and supporting a terrorist organisation over comments she made on social media.
Dareen Tatour was arrested in 2015 in connection with three posts, including a video of her reading one of her poems – Resist, My People, Resist Them – set over footage of protesters.
She said her poem was misunderstood and that she did not call for violence.
PEN International, an association of writers, condemned the verdict.
It believes Tatour was “targeted for her poetry and peaceful activism”.
“Dareen Tatour has been convicted for doing what writers do every day – we use our words to peacefully challenge injustice,” said the group's president, Jennifer Clement. “PEN will continue to call for justice in this case.”
Tatour, 36, was arrested in October 2015 and spent several months in prison before being placed under house arrest in January 2016.
She was initially confined to a flat in the city of Tel Aviv and her movements restricted because Israeli authorities deemed her a “threat to public safety”.
She was later permitted to return to her family home in Reineh near…
