Informed Comment Homepage

Thoughts on the Middle East, History and Religion

Header Right

  • Featured
  • US politics
  • Middle East
  • Environment
  • US Foreign Policy
  • Energy
  • Economy
  • Politics
  • About
  • Archives
  • Submissions

© 2025 Informed Comment

  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Israel/ Palestine
PEN Int'l ‘strongly condemns’ Israel court’s jailing of Palestinian for Writing Poetry

PEN Int’l ‘strongly condemns’ Israel court’s jailing of Palestinian for Writing Poetry

Middle East Monitor 05/05/2018

Tweet
Share
Reddit
Email

PEN International has slammed the conviction of Palestinian poet Dareen Tatour, who was prosecuted by Israeli authorities for three social media posts, including a poem.

In a statement issued yesterday, PEN – a global association of writers with a focus on freedom of expression – said it “strongly condemns the decision of the Nazareth Magistrate’s Court to convict Palestinian poet Dareen Tatour of ‘support for a terrorist organisation’ and ‘incitement to violence’.”

PEN noted that “the conviction is mainly related to a YouTube video in which she recites one of her poems entitled, ‘Qawim ya sha’abi, qawimhum (Resist, my people, resist them)’.”

PEN International President Jennifer Clement, who met Dareen Tatour at her home in Nazareth last year, said:

    “Dareen Tatour has been convicted for doing what writers do every day – we use our words to peacefully challenge injustice.”

She added: “I was incredibly honoured to meet Dareen at her home last year and PEN will continue to call for justice in this case.”

According to PEN, which “has been campaigning for her immediate release and for the charges against her to be dropped,” Tatour “was targeted [by the Israeli authorities] for her poetry and peaceful activism”. A sentencing hearing will take place on 31 May.

This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Via Middle East Monitor

—–

Bonus video added by Informed Comment:

Dareen Tatour reading A Poet’s Hallucinations – Arabic & English

Filed Under: Israel/ Palestine

About the Author

Middle East Monitor is a not-for-profit press monitoring organization, founded on 1 July 2009, and based in London. Journalists who have written for it include Amelia Smith, Diana Alghoul, Ben White, Jehan Alfarra and Jessica Purkiss. The editorial line straddles the British left and the British Muslim religious Right.

Primary Sidebar

Support Independent Journalism

Click here to donate via PayPal.

Personal checks should be made out to Juan Cole and sent to me at:

Juan Cole
P. O. Box 4218,
Ann Arbor, MI 48104-2548
USA
(Remember, make the checks out to “Juan Cole” or they can’t be cashed)

STAY INFORMED

Join our newsletter to have sharp analysis delivered to your inbox every day.
Warning! Social media will not reliably deliver Informed Comment to you. They are shadowbanning news sites, especially if "controversial."
To see new IC posts, please sign up for our email Newsletter.

Social Media

Bluesky | Instagram

Popular

  • Israel's Netanyahu banks on TACO Trump as he Launches War on Iran to disrupt Negotiations
  • A Pariah State? Western Nations Sanction Israeli Cabinet Members
  • Israel: Will Ultra-Orthodox Jews' Opposition to Conscription Bring down Netanyahu's Gov't
  • Women's Cancer Rates are Rising in the Oil Gulf: is Global Heating causing it?
  • Threat to Rule of Law: Sen. Padilla thrown to Ground, Cuffed at Noem DHS Press Conference

Gaza Yet Stands


Juan Cole's New Ebook at Amazon. Click Here to Buy
__________________________

Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires



Click here to Buy Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires.

The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam


Click here to Buy The Rubaiyat.
Sign up for our newsletter

Informed Comment © 2025 All Rights Reserved