RAMALLAH, September 11, 2017 (WAFA) – The Preventive Security Monday issued a press release to clear what it described as “rumors and misleading information” surrounding the arrest of Hebron activist Issa Amro, who was detained for criticizing the Palestinian Authority (PA) on his Facebook page.

The press release said Amro was arrested after receiving information that he has “engaged in actions that would cause internal strife and for contacting foreign parties in order to undermine the work of the PA by providing false information related to his work, which was done through the social network.”

It added that Amro’s arrest doesn’t violate the Palestinian Basic Law since he was brought before the prosecutor general who ordered his detention until he was brought before the Magistrate Court, which decided to extend his detention for four days on charges of “instigating sectarian strife” and “offending figures of high esteem.”

The Preventive Security statement said that after the Magistrate Court had ruled on Sunday to release Amro on a $1,400 bail, he was immediately set free.

Amro co-founded the Youth Against Settlement (YAS), a group based in the southern occupied West Bank city of Hebron and promotes non-violent resistance against the Israeli occupation.

He faces 18 charges in Israeli military court related to his activism and organizing protests against Israel’s policies in Hebron in violation of international law.

The group said on its Facebook page that Amro had been released, but the Magistrate Court’s charges against him had not been dropped.

Amro was arrested on last Monday after he was summoned by the preventive security for questioning regarding a Facebook post in which he criticized the PA for arresting the director of a Hebron’s Manbar al-Hurriya radio station Ayman Qawasmeh, who also criticized the PA after the closure of his radio station for sixth months by the Israeli army.

M.H./M.K.