The Candy Bar that Blew Barghouti's Cover
Palestinian Incitement against the Media

by Bassam Tawil • May 10, 2017 at 5:00 am

Tellingly, although Nasser Abu Bakr's conflict of interest has been reported several times, his spectacular breach of journalistic ethics does not seem to bother his employers at Agence France-Presse (AFP). Worse, it calls into serious question AFP's professional ethics.
Let us be clear on this: Abu Bakr and his PA friends are demanding that the Israeli and international media refrain from reporting anything offensive about the Palestinians. That is censorship -- not to mention shock-troop thuggery.
Since his appointment as chairman of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS), Abu Bakr has spearheaded a campaign to boycott Israeli journalists and media organizations. He has repeatedly accused Israeli journalists of serving as an "arm" of the Israeli military authorities and government. Ironically, it is Abu Bakr and his PJS who serve as part of the Palestinian Authority (PA) leadership establishment and do not conceal their role as officials.

A screenshot from a video showing imprisoned Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti, who is leading a "hunger strike," secretly eating a candy bar in the bathroom of his prison cell. (Image source: Israel Prisons Service)

The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS), a body dominated by loyalists to Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas, has resumed its incitement against Israeli media outlets and journalists.

On May 7, Israeli authorities released a video showing imprisoned Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti, who is leading a "hunger strike" of more than 1,000 inmates held in Israeli prisons, secretly eating a candy bar in the bathroom of his prison cell. Israeli media outlets and journalists, like many of their Western colleagues, reported on the video, which has seriously embarrassed Barghouti and many other Palestinians.

The prisoners' "hunger strike" is not about torture or denial of medical treatment. The prisoners seek expanded visitation rights, better access to public phones and more access to higher education.

But Barghouti, who began leading the "hunger strike" on April 17, has more on his mind than incarceration privileges.

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Links Between Islamism and Executions

by Majid Rafizadeh • May 10, 2017 at 4:00 am

People have, it seems, often been arrested or detained on the basis of a rumor; then convicted without trial, counsel or often even the chance to mount a defense.
As Amnesty International points out, "In many countries where people were sentenced to death or executed, the proceedings did not meet international fair trial standards. In some cases, this included the extraction of 'confessions' through torture or other ill-treatment".
The laws under which these people are sentenced to death are often not only vague and open to interpretation. Charges that warrant the death penalty, for instance, include being "corrupt on earth", "enemies of Allah on Earth", or alleged "crimes against chastity". What exactly does "corrupt on earth" or "enemies of Allah on Earth" mean?

In Pakistan, Asia Bibi (pictured with two of her five children), a Christian, sits on death row for "blasphemy." Asia's "crime" was to use the same water glass as her Muslim co-workers. "You defiled our water," the Muslim women told her.

Just how strict and brutal it is to enforce Islamic law, sharia, has now been revealed by Amnesty International.

Amnesty's study, which details the number of reported executions around the world, clearly maps out the most at-risk populations. Lands ruled predominantly by sharia are apparently the most vulnerable to multitudes of executions without fair trials. At the top of the list, with the most executions, are those nations that enforce Islamic sharia law. Despite many human rights violations, these nations, apparently undeterred, continue to execute their citizens.

Sharia makes those in authority infallible and untouchable. Therefore, whatever the government or those in power deem to be "just" can be carried out without question or consequence. Under sharia law and the Islamic penal code, executions can be carried out in sickening forms. Those convicted may be beheaded, hanged, stoned, or shot to death.

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