The Mossawa Center, Haifa. Tuesday 29th of April 2014. MK Mohammad Barakeh, former MK Said Nafaa, 16 Arab Druze Sheikhs, Sheikh Raed Salah, journalist Mohammad Abu Asaad and journalist Majd Kayyal have all been interrogated and accused in illegal activity in their political activism; a real threat to Arab citizens as what is illegitimate today will transfer into a legitimate law once a peace settlement is agreed to.

The Mossawa Center demands a halt to political interrogations and unlawful accusations against political activists and leaders from the Arab community.  The lack of agreement and segregation between the political mainstream in the country and the Arab minority has turned political actions by Arab activists into legal cases.  In the past, The Palestinian Liberation Organization was labeled as a "terrorist organization" and the display of the Palestinian flag was restricted.  Hundreds of citizens were interrogated and detained starting of 1993.  Tens of citizens were arrested for holding the Palestinian flag, a conviction which was later cancelled following the signing of the Oslo Accords.  The definition of Arab countries as "enemy states" is unacceptable the Arab citizens in Israel.  The 16 Druze sheikhs who visited their holy sites and families in Syria did not pose any political or security threats, while they simply took part in their religious rights to meet with family members whom they were separated from as a result of the political events that had taken place in the decades before.  In the case of MK Said Nafaa, his visit in Syria was a part of a political trip that in the right circumstances would have been defended by the parliamentary body that he is part of.

The political actions by the extreme right wing members of the Knesset were never labeled as unlawful, while some of them used violence and racist incitements against Arab citizens.  Their calls against Arab citizens labeling them with words such as "cancer" and the call to transfer citizens were dropped in court cases against them and defended due to "freedom of speech."  The claims against MKs such as Mohammad Barakeh and the interrogation of other MKs and the head of the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement, Sheikh Raed Salah are all attacks against the political freedom of the Arab minority.

Moreover, the recent arrest of the journalist and political activist Majd Kayyal following his visit in Beirut in which he took part in a conference with the newspaper "Al Safeer" that he writes for is an attack against the rights and freedom of Arab journalists.  Kayyal wrote about his visit to Lebanon on social media sites and did not have any intention in hiding his visit or keeping it secret.  His restriction from meeting a lawyer and the gag order that was placed in the media related to his case were a violation of his rights.  It is noteworthy to point out that in the past, Jewish Israeli journalists who visited Lebanon and Syria were not convicted with any illegal activity.
In addition, the police and security forces who are weekly witnesses to "Tag Makhir" attacks in Arab localities against Arab citizens have taken notice of the increased activism of Arab political activists and the Arab political leadership. Moreover, dozens of Arab youth that took part in a demonstration against land confiscation and house demolitions in the Negev were interrogated and arrested by the police in the past months.
The Mossawa Center calls for the expansion the democratic right of Arab citizens. The Mossawa Center requests that political interrogations be immediately stopped and to free the journalist Majd Kayyal and an end to all legal procedures convicting political activists journalists against their political freedom and freedom of speech.