On February 28, 2025, Israeli authorities arrested 37-year-old Palestinian freelance journalist Bayan al-Johbeh while she was reporting at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Al-Johbeh, who has Israeli residency, has remained under house arrest in her home in Shuafat refugee camp in Jerusalem since March 1, 2025, and faces charges of “incitement via social media.”
“Al-Johbeh was released under strict conditions due to her being pregnant at the time of her arrest,” her husband and fellow journalist, Mohammed al-Sadeq, told CPJ. “She has since been placed under open-ended house arrest, banned from using social media. She gave birth to her son, Yazan, last April [2025], and remains under house arrest, not allowed to leave the house except for medical reasons.”
The Israeli Ministry of Interior has denied Al-Johbeh’s requests to register her infant son in official records and give him residency in Jerusalem, saying that the family lives in Al-Ram in the West Bank, al-Sadeq told CPJ.
Palestinian children born in Jerusalem are legally entitled to permanent residency, if their parents have valid residency. But registration is oftendifficult to secure as control over the city is contested by Israel and the Palestinians.
“This is despite the court’s imposition of house arrest on Al-Johbeh in Jerusalem,” he said.
“There is no legal justification for the continued restrictions on Bayan’s freedom and the prevention of her from practicing her work,” Al-Sadeq told CPJ. “The current situation prevents her from moving, and as a journalist and a mother, she has the right to be treated fairly.”
Al-Sadeq said that the indictment, filed on March 20, 2025, was based on journalistic and news posts Al-Johbeh published on Facebook and Instagram between 2021 and 2024.
On May 17, 2026, Israeli prosecutors requested a prison sentence of between 20 and 40 months in prison, with a minimum term of 24 months, her husband told CPJ. In response to CPJ’s request for comment, a spokesperson for the Israeli prosecutor’s office said that Al-Johbeh had been convicted, following the presentation of evidence, of several offenses related to “incitement to terrorism” and “identification with a terrorist organization,” over social media posts published over an extended period, including after October 7, 2023.
On June 7, 2026, the Israeli Magistrate’s Court sentenced Al-Johbeh to 20 months in prison, six months suspended, and a 5,000 shekel fine after convicting her on charges related to “incitement” and “supporting a terrorist organization” over social media posts.
The court set September 6, 2026, as the date for Al-Johbeh to begin serving her sentence.
Al-Johbeh’s lawyer, Hamza Qutina, told CPJ that, in the past, courts would take periods of house arrest into account when issuing sentences. “What is strange about this decision is that the sentence was issued as if the year Al-Johbeh spent under house arrest did not exist,” he said, noting that he planned to appeal the ruling.