Palestinian human rights groups on Tuesday demanded that Palestinian Authority free a female DJ arrested after a dance party at a Muslim religious site near the West Bank city of Jericho.
Palestinian Authority police arrested 30-year-old Sama Abdulhadi on Sunday, the day after she performed at Nabi Musa, which Muslims traditionally believe is the burial place of Moses.
Ammar Dweik, director of the Independent Palestinian Commission for Human Rights, said that she was remanded in custody on Tuesday for a further 15 days.
Her family said that an application for bail was rejected.
Shawan Jabarin, general director of Palestinian rights group Al-Haq, slammed the "arbitrary arrest" which he said was aimed at satisfying a section of Palestinian opinion.
Abdulhadi is considered by many to be the first Palestinian woman to have become a professional DJ.
Dweik, whose organization was itself founded by the PA, said that Abdulhadi had official permission for the event at Nabi Musa.
"We asked today for her release because her arrest is not logical," he said. "She had received an authorization from the ministry of tourism."
The party at Nabi Musa
"Nabi Musa is not only a religious site but also a tourist site," he said. "If electronic music was not appropriate for it, the ministry should not have given its authorization."
Video of the event posted on social media showed men and women dancing together at the gathering, sparking public anger and accusations of desecration of the site, where there is a mosque.
The event, one comment on Twitter said, "is really disgusting. It is an insult to the three [monotheistic] religions."
"How dare a bunch of liberal Palestinians party at the Nabi Musa mosque?"
At one point, men entered the site and pushed participants out. The event also took place despite coronavirus restrictions in force in the West Bank.
At the request of Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh, a commission of inquiry was set up "to determine what happened at Nabi Musa."
A government official said that he could not comment as the issue was subject to the ongoing commission of inquiry.