Defense attorney calls $655 fine for 22-year-old protester ‘dark day for free speech’
A German court has fined a woman $655 (€600) for using the slogan “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” during a protest last year, a decision her lawyer denounced as an attack on freedom of expression.
Lawyer Alexander Gorski, who represented the 22-year-old in Berlin, said Tuesday’s ruling was “a dark day for freedom of expression”.
“My client only wanted to express her hope for a future of democratic coexistence for all the peoples of the region,” he told AFP news agency, adding that the woman, identified only as Ava M, would appeal the decision.
A court spokesman said the woman was convicted of using the slogan during a protest in Berlin’s Neukölln district on October 11, days after the start of the Gaza war.
The court concluded that the use of the phrase “could only be understood as a denial of Israel’s right to exist and an approval” of the October 7 Hamas attack, the spokesman said.
According to local authorities, Israel had killed 1,537 Palestinians as of October 11, more than the number of Israelis killed in the October 7 attack. At that time, anti-war activists held protests demanding a ceasefire.
Palestinian rights advocates have said “From the River to the Sea” is an ambitious call for freedom and equality in historic Palestine.
Israel supporters argue that the slogan calls for Israel’s destruction. The phrase was banned by German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser in November.
However, Israel controls the entire area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, where it imposes a system of apartheid on Palestinians, according to major human rights groups.
Additionally, Israeli politicians often show a map of the country that includes the occupied Palestinian territory, thus claiming that Israel extends from the river to the sea.
Germany is a staunch supporter of Israel and one of its main arms suppliers.
The Israeli offensive in Gaza has killed at least 39,653 people, razed large swathes of the territory and brought its more than two million residents to the brink of starvation.
Domestically, Berlin has cracked down on Palestinian rights activists. Earlier this year, the country passed a law requiring immigrants seeking German citizenship to affirm Israel’s right to exist.
In April, German police canceled a pro-Palestine conference in Berlin. Authorities have also regularly broken up anti-Gaza war protests and assaulted and arrested demonstrators.
Earlier this year, Germany banned entry into the country of British Palestinian doctor Ghassan Abu Sittah, who worked in Gaza during the early months of the war.
