Ramallah: The Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) has published a study last week entitled “The Judiciary and the Media: Freedom of Expression between Theory and Practice” with the support of the Foundation For the Future (FFF) as a part of its support for the legal unit at MADA.
Mousa Rimawi, General Director of MADA, states that the study fell within the Center’s work related to Palestinian media in general and the right to freedom of opinion and expression in particular, which is guaranteed by the Basic Law of the State of Palestine. The study focused on the importance of the public in promoting and protecting the right of expression and the philosophical foundations upon which this right is based, as principles and general definitions of triumph, in the vast majority of cases, which are related to the right to freedom of expression by the judiciary in democratic regimes, and The judicial and legal environment which is based on the maintenance of this right as a first foundation (in the constitutions, laws and courts) when considering any issue relating to freedom of expression, and the image corresponding to each aspect of it across the Arab world.
The study was prepared by researcher Mohammed Fawzi, lecturer at Birzeit University and specialist in constitutional and jurisdictional law. A number of subject areas are addressed within several sections and titles, including: the political basis for the protection of freedom of expression; the philosophical foundations and theory to protect the right of expression; the relationship between freedom of expression and media freedom and the right of the press in the coverage of public affairs; the protection of the right not to disclose sources of information and freedom of expression for state and public officials; satirical art as a form of expression; the right to express rights such as that to privacy, to peaceful assembly and freedom of religion; and the restrictions deemed acceptable to freedom of expression and those that undermine freedom of expression in the applicable laws.
Rimawi explains that the study deals with models of problematic matters concerning freedom of expression and instances when the press is brought before the courts in many countries. It examines how such issues have been dealt with and how the judiciary in democratic countries is biased in its interpretation and its provisions to freedom of expression, even what may appear as 'blatant encroachment’ in countries governed by undemocratic regimes, based on the principle to uphold the protection of freedom of expression, not prevent it. This principle is safeguarded by a lot of constitutions worldwide, as well as being enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and international conventions.
The study forms the seventh research study in the MADA series of publications. Among the others are: 'The Impact of Violations on the Self-Censorship among Palestinian Journalists’; 'The Right to Access to Information and the Reality in Palestine’; 'Impact of the Israeli Siege on the Media in the Gaza Strip’; 'The Relationship of New Media and Freedom of Opinion and Expression in Palestine’; 'The Legal Regulation of Media Freedom in Palestine’ and 'The Role of the Media in Promoting the Palestinian Division – Palestinian Public TV and Al-Aqsa (Hamas TV) Model, and the Judiciary and the Media: Freedom of Expression between Theory and Practice” (a comparative study).
To read the complete study in Arabic, follow the link below:
