Jerusalem (AFP)

Dozens of journalists demonstrated Wednesday in a court near Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, against the orderly closure of fifty or so news websites, according to an official of the journalists' union.

At the request of the Attorney General, the Ramallah Court of First Instance banned Monday access to websites as threats to "national security and peace".

Palestinian journalists union lawyer Alaa Freijat told AFP that she had appealed the decision, which concerns 59 sites and pages of information on social networks.

In a statement, the organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF) criticized the decision, which includes pages with millions of Facebook subscribers, including that of the Shebab News Agency or Quds Network.

"This unacceptable measure seems to be done to punish the media criticizing the government," according to RSF.

"Remove your hands from the freedom of the press, let go of the journalists", claimed the demonstrators gathered Wednesday in front of the court, according to images diffused on the social networks.

"We oppose the blocking and closing of websites, it is not a method to resolve controversies," said Mohammed al-Laham, chairman of the union's liberties committee, saying that dozens of people were gathered in court.

He regretted that the decision was taken without the information ministry or his union having been consulted.

Palestinian government spokesman Ibrahim Melhem called on "the relevant authorities and the Attorney General to overturn the decision".

In 2017, the Palestinian Authority, which runs the West Bank, a Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967, has enacted a controversial law on cybercrime, which it amended in 2018.

Amnesty International denounced the text, which "imposes tight control over the freedom of the media and allows the arbitrary detention and sentencing of up to 15 years of imprisonment by anyone criticizing the authorities on the internet, including journalists and radio launchers. 'alert".

Alaa Freijat also filed a "complaint for unconstitutionality against Article 39 of the Cybercrime Act", which allows the court to close a site that threatens "public order", "national unity" or "social peace".

The blocked sites have been through the providers of Internet access, told AFP Ahmed Youssef, a journalist for one of the sites suspended.

© 2019 AFP