Journalist Abd Abu Shahada was released from detention five days after being arrested on suspicion of contact with a foreign agent, following an interview with former Knesset member Azmi Bishara, one of the founders of Balad. Upon his release, he said: 'I have just been released from several days of false detention. A political interrogation, completely baseless. A Shin Bet witch hunt in the service of the prime minister who is trying to intimidate and silence us, and to make the very act of voting by the Arab society illegitimate.' According to him, 'No persecution will succeed in silencing us.'