The state of human rights in the West Bank and Gaza Strip characterizes the State of Palestine as an authoritarian regime according to The Economist Democracy Index.
Status of freedom, political rights and civil liberties
Rights and Liberties Ratings
At the Economist Intelligence Unit (Democracy Index) rankings, the highest index reports most democracy. 167 countries participated in the ranking, North Korea was worst (index 1.08) and Norway was best (index 9.87). Freedom House's annual survey of political rights and civil liberties, Freedom in the World 2001–2002, reported that civil liberties declined "due to the shooting deaths of Palestinian civilians by Palestinian security personnel; the summary trials and executions of alleged collaborators by the Palestinian Authority (PA); extrajudicial killings of suspected collaborators by militias; and the apparent official encouragement of Palestinian youths to confront Israeli soldiers, thus placing them directly in harm's way." The Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group reports "everyday disagreements and clashes between the various political factions, families and cities that a complete picture of Palestinian society is painted. These divisions have during the course of the al Aqsa Intifada also led to an increasingly violent 'Intra'fada'."
Individual freedoms and rights
Freedom of speech
The PA has guaranteed freedom of assembly to the Palestinian population, and its Legislation states this. Nevertheless, the right to demonstrate for opponents of the PA regime or of PA policy has become increasingly subject to police control and restriction and is a source of concern for human rights groups.
Activists say there is a growing crackdown on writers who criticize the Palestinian Government. According to executive director of Advancing Human Rights David Keyes, in 2013, Anas Awwad, a 26-year-old Palestinian activist, was sentenced in absentia by a Palestinian court in Nablus, the West Bank, to one year in prison for "extending his tongue" against the Palestinian Authority's president, Mahmoud Abbas, on Facebook. Keyes also states that in 2012, Palestinian blogger Jamal Abu Rihan was arrested by the Palestinian Authority for starting a Facebook campaign called the People Want an End to Corruption, he was indicted under the charges of "extending his tongue" against the Palestinian leadership.
In April 2012, a West Bank university lecturer Ismat Abdul-Khaleq was arrested for criticizing Abbas on Facebook. Subsequently, agents belonging to the PA's Preventive Security Service in Ramallah arrested Tarek Khamis, who works for Palestinian Zaman Press news agency. He was detained for criticizing the Palestinian Authority's treatment of Ms. Abdul-Khaleq and for the criticizing the clampdown on journalists in the West Bank. According to David Keyes, George Canawati, the director of a Bethlehem radio station and the journalist Rami Samar were detained for posting criticisms of the Palestinian Authority on Facebook.
Threats of death were made against Minister Nabil Shaath for planning to participate in a conference in Italy attended by Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom by the Jenin Martyrs Brigades, the armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committees. They declared, "He will be sentenced to death if he enters. The decision cannot be rescinded, we call upon his bodyguards to abandon his convoy in order to save their lives."
Nabil Amar, former Minister of Information and a cabinet member and a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, was shot by masked gunmen after criticizing Arafat and calling for reforms in the PA in a television interview.
A Hamas-run council in the West Bank came under international criticism in 2005 for barring an open-air music and dance festival, on the basis of being "against Islam".