in october 2016 more than 180 poets, writers and intellectuals asked for her freedom. four of them were winners of the israel prize: a. b. yehoshua, tuvia rivner, avishai margalit and shimon sandbank. the statement said tatour was "arrested and tried for writing a poem." they believed this went against "democracy, free speech and creativity." they added that it made it difficult for arabs and jews to talk to each other and end the arab-israeli conflict. a poet and activist named tal nitzan led these efforts.