Israeli citizen and Balad activist Abed Abu Shehadeh freed after five days of politically charged detention
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Abed Abu Shehadeh, a Palestinian journalist and senior Balad activist, was released after five days in custody, with no charges filed over his interview with former MK Azmi Bishara, in a case that critics see as yet another assault on Palestinian political expression.
Palestinian journalist and senior Balad activist Abed Abu Shehadeh was released from custody five days after being detained by the Shin Bet and Israel Police. The authorities did not file any charges against him, despite initially arresting him and searching his home on Wednesday.
Abu Shehadeh’s legal team said the investigation stemmed solely from a pre-election interview he conducted with former MK Azmi Bishara in Qatar, a conversation that was publicly available. According to the legal-rights group Adalah, which is involved in his defense, police questioned him only about that interview and raised no other allegations.
His lawyers argued that the interview, which covered the Israeli election campaign and Palestinian issues, constituted legitimate journalistic work and that Bishara was not a “foreign agent,” providing no basis for criminal suspicion.
Three newly elected Jewish members of the U.S. Congress – Brad Lander of New York, Daniel Biss of Illinois and Scott Wiener of California – sent a joint letter to Israel’s ambassador in Washington, Yechiel Leiter, urging the Israeli government to release Abu Shehadeh immediately or, if charges are pursued, to disclose the evidence to his lawyers and ensure full due-process protections.