Press Releases
20 September 2015 |Reference 36/2015
Short Link:
The Israeli forces have re-arrested the Palestinian lawyer, Mohammed Allan, amidst continued violations against Palestinian detainees held in Israeli prisons and detention centers, including arbitrary procedures that amount to degrading treatment and amidst continued use of administrative detention.
According to Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, the Israeli security authorities re-arrested Allan on Wednesday morning immediately after the Barzilai Hospital’s administration in Ashkelon decided to release him from hospital. .At approximately 9:30 am, an Israeli force arrived at Barzilai Hospital, re-arrested Allan, and transferred him to the clinic of Ramla prison to continue the reminder of his original administrative detention order, which will end on 4 November 2015.
On 19 August 2015, the Israeli High Court suspended Allan’s administrative detention order. The decision was taken subsequent to the deterioration of the detainee’s health in the aftermath of a 64 day open-ended hunger strike. The strike was conducted in protest of his detention without charge or fair trial. At the time, Allan had lost consciousness and was suffering from brain damage that was the result of a vitamin B1 deficiency.
According to the Committee for Prisoner’s Affairs, seven administrative detainees are on a hunger strike, now reaching almost one month, in protest of their administrative detention, which is based on “secret evidence”. Neither the detainees nor their lawyers are given access to the evidence held against them. The detainees are identified as Nidal Na’eem Abu ‘Akar, 45, detained in Ashkelon prison; Ghassan Zawahra, 32, detained in Eshel prison; Sahdi Ma‘ali, 39, detained in Dekel prison; Bader Al Ruzza, and Munir Abu Sharrar, both detained in Naqab (Negev) prison; Bilal Al Saifi, detained in Majeddo prison, and Salman Skafi, detained in Nafha prison. According to the information available to Al Mezan, the Israeli Prison Service has held the seven detainees in solitary confinement and amidst poor condition.
The Israeli authorities and courts continue to arrest and detain Palestinians under military orders emanating from the Emergency Law of 1945, which was enacted during the British Mandate over Palestine. This law allows the military authorities to detain Palestinians without trial or providing justification. The military law allows for unlimited extensions of the administrative detention orders by default procedures. The Israeli authorities continue to disregard the obligations and principles of UN treaty bodies, including calls from the UN Convention Against Torture and the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights to stop its use of administrative detention.
Al Mezan asserts that the widespread ill-treatment by Israeli authorities amounts to violations of the 1955 United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, the Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment adopted in 1988, the Fourth Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilians in Times of War, and the 1948 International Convention Against Torture, which was ratified by the state of Israel in 1991.
Al Mezan Center for Human Rights expresses its deep concern for the life and wellbeing of the hunger striking detainees and for the general wellbeing of all Palestinian and Arab detainees in Israeli prisons of whom Israeli authorities are responsible. Al Mezan strongly condemns Israel’s abuses of Palestinian detainees, from illegal detention without trial, as unlawful combatants or administrative detainees, to numerous procedures that violate basic rights and dignities, including solitary confinement, medical negligence, and barring of family visitations.
Al Mezan denounces the re-arrest of Mohammed Allan particularly amidst his unstable health condition. Al Mezan calls for Allan’s immediate release. Pressure must be exerted on the government of Israel to end the practice of administrative detention and force-feeding laws as they gravely violate international humanitarian law and international human rights law.
END
Letters and Appeals
International Humanitarian Law
Rights of the Child campaign
International Reports
The Arab Organization for Human Rights (AOHR)
Dr. Abu Safiya Reports Torture and Severe Abuses in Israeli Custody; Al Mezan Calls for His Immediate Release
Update on Dr. Abu Safiya’s Arbitrary Detention and Denial of Access to Legal Counsel, Referred to UN Special Procedures
Israeli Court Extends Dr. Hossam Abu Safiya's Detention: Al Mezan Calls for Immediate Release and Safeguards for Detained Healthcare Workers
Five Gaza Detainees Die in Israeli Custody; Al Mezan Calls for International Action to Protect Palestinian Detainees
Israel’s Policy of Deliberate Medical Neglect Aggravate Epidemics and Skin Diseases Among Palestinian Prisoners and Detainees