Ramallah: Dozens of Gazans loyal to the late Palestinian president Yasser Arafat have filed a lawsuit against a controversial cartoonist who published offending caricatures of the iconic leader on the anniversary of his death and the Palestinian “Day of Independence”.
The Gazans, led by Saleh Rashad Saqallah, lodged the complaint against the Hamas-affiliated cartoonist and caricaturist, Bahaa Yassin, with Gaza Attorney General Esmail Jaber, who accepted the complaint and promised that it would be processed through the official legal channels. A similar complaint was lodged with the Government Media Centre, which has also pledged to investigate the matter.
The Islamist movement Hamas, which has been ruling the Gaza Strip since 2007, following a brief civil war, has vowed to prosecute and punish those who incite divisions among Palestinians.
For many Palestinians, Arafat is a symbol of Palestinian resistance, steadfastness and liberation from the Israeli occupation. Arafat however failed to bring independence for his people from the brutal Israeli occupation.
The recent anti-Arafat statements and caricatures published by Yassin have caused a stir in Palestinian society, setting social media on fire. In one image, Arafat is depicted as a mouse with his well-known keffiyah (headdress) on his head. Yassin also called Arafat “Abu Himar” (father of a donkey), playing on his nickname, Abu Ammar.
“Eighteen community leaders have signed the lawsuit filed against Yassin, and we will go all the way to ensure that the cartoonist receives the necessary trial and punishment,” Saqallah told Gulf News. “This time, we will not accept an apology. Yassin has crossed too many lines, and it is not his first violation against the Palestinian people and their leaders.”
Only a few months ago, Yassin and Hamas were forced to apologise for a graphic cartoon depicting a Jew raping a West Bank woman who appears not to be bothered by the assault. The caricature offended Palestinians in the West Bank, who demanded an immediate apology. The apology was granted, and Yassin removed the cartoon from his Facebook page, replacing it with another.
Saqallah said that after he successfully filed the complaint with the Gaza authorities, others were encouraged to file similar individual and group lawsuits against Yassin. “We will take our legal procedures against Yassin to a conclusion, if given the chance to do so,” he said. “If he is prosecuted and punished, that will be a victory for us, and if not, at least he and his supporting party will be exposed to Palestinians and to the world.”
Several Gaza-based news sites reported on Tuesday that the Gaza Public Prosecution had issued an arrest warrant against Yassin, but at the time of filing this report, that had not been confirmed.
