German court fines woman for ‘from the river to the sea’ chant
Al Jazeera
Defence lawyer calls the $655 fine against 22-year-old protester a ‘dark day for freedom of expression’.
A German court has imposed a $655 (600 euro) fine on a woman for using the slogan – “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” – during a protest last year, a ruling her lawyer decried as an assault on free speech.
Lawyer Alexander Gorski, who represented the 22-year-old woman in Berlin, said the decision on Tuesday was “a dark day for freedom of expression”.
“My client only wanted to express her hope for a future of democratic coexistence for all people in the region,” he told AFP news agency, adding that the woman, identified only as Ava M, would appeal the decision.
A court spokesperson said the woman was found guilty of using the slogan during a demonstration at Berlin’s Neukoelln district on October 11, days after the Gaza war began.
The court concluded that the use of the phrase “could only be understood as a denial of Israel’s right to exist and an endorsement” of Hamas’s October 7 attack, the spokesperson said.
