The incitement trial of journalist Tawfik Mohammed Jabarin was put off yesterday until September, after Jabarin petitioned Attorney General Menny Mazuz to delay proceedings.
According to a group of Arab journalists protesting Saturday in central Nazareth, the decision to try Jabarin for incitement to violence is racist and an infringement of freedom of expression and religion.
If a request submitted by Jabarin to delay the process is denied, then the editor of Sawt al-Haqq Wal-Hurriya, an organ of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement, will be the first to be tried under a new, more stringent law against incitement to violence. A former columnist for the paper, Abed Rahman Bakhirat, who is said to have praised suicide bombers, will also go on trial.
The new law passed in May 2002 calls for a five-year prison sentence for those convicted of making statements encouraging violence or acts of terror, or supporting or identifying with it. The litmus test for conviction will be the "practical possibility" of carrying out a violent act as a result of the statements.
More...A case in point. Incitement or freedom of speech and religion? 
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