UA-1/2008 – URGENT APPEAL – DCI-Palestine

UPDATE: July 2009

22 July 2009	Released
23 March 2009	Third administrative detention order (4 months)
24 November 2008	Second administrative detention order (4 months)
25 July 2008	First administrative detention order (4 months)
25 July 2008	Date of arrest

Mohammad was arrested from the family home in Bethlehem at 2:00 am on 25 July 2008. He was woken by the sound of an explosion as units of the Israeli army blew open the front door of the house.

Mohammad was immediately blindfolded and handcuffed by the soldiers and thrown on the floor. He was beaten four times on his back with the butt of a rifle, whilst a soldier shouted at him to tell them where a weapon was kept. He told the soldiers that he did not have a weapon. The soldier who beat him also threatened his family with abuse.

Mohammad was transferred to Etzion Interrogation and Detention Centre, near Bethlehem where he was kept for eight days without interrogation. After eight days, Mohammad was transferred to Ofer Prison where he was informed that he had been issued with a four month administrative detention order.

Mohammad was interrogated in Ofer Prison where his interrogator threatened him with a long prison term unless he became an informer for the Israeli authorities. Mohammad refused to become an informer and the interrogator then told him that he was accused of possessing weapons and belonging to Islamic Jihad, a banned organisation. The interrogator told him that there was a secret file on him.

On 6 August 2008, twelve days after being arrested, Mohammad saw his lawyer for the first time. He was taken before the administrative detention court in the Israeli military base at Ofer. The Israeli military judge ordered that Mohammad remain in administrative detention until 23 November 2008.

On 24 November 2008, Mohammad was issued with a second administrative detention order for six months. Mohammad is now likely to remain in prison until 24 May 2009. Mohammad has not been charged with any offence, or been given the benefit of a trial.

Background information

On 12 March 2008, Mohammad’s father was killed, along with three others, by an Israeli special unit in Bethlehem. The Israeli human rights organisation, B’Tselem, investigated the circumstances of the killing and reported that in defiance of an Israeli High Court ruling, there was strong evidence to suggest that the operation was a targeted assassination.

Mohammad was then arrested by Israeli authorities on 16 April 2008 and taken to Mascobiyya Interrogation Centre and Prison in East Jerusalem (‘The Russian Compound”). He was interrogated and accused of being a member of Islamic Jihad but was released without charge on 7 May 2008, only to be arrested again on 25 July 2008.

Administrative detention

Administrative detention is detention without charge or trial and is often based on “secret evidence.” Israeli Military Order 1226 empowers military commanders to detain Palestinians, including children as young as 12, for up to six months if they have “reasonable grounds to presume that the security of the area or public security require the detention.” The initial six month period can be extended by additional six-month periods indefinitely. This procedure denies the detainee the right to a fair trial and the ability to adequately challenge the basis of his or her detention.

There are currently at least 569 Palestinians being held by Israel without charge or trial in administrative detention, of which five are children, including two girls. For more information visit the DCI-Palestine website at Freedom Now.

Recommended action

Please send Urgent Appeals to the Israeli authorities urging them to:

• Immediately cease the practice of holding persons under the age of 18 in administrative detention; and

• Immediately and unconditionally release all persons currently held in administrative detention, or charge them with a recognisable criminal offence and promptly try them in a proper court of law with internationally accepted standards for a fair trial.

Prime Minister
Office of the Prime Minister
3 Kaplan Street, PO Box 187, Kiryat Ben-Gurion, Jerusalem, 91919, Israel
Fax: +972- 2-651 2631
Email: rohm@pmo.gov.il, pm_eng@pmo.gov.il  
Salutation: Dear Prime Minister

Ehud Barak
Minister of Defence, Ministry of Defence,
37 Kaplan Street, Hakirya, Tel Aviv 61909, Israel
Fax: +972 3 691 6940
Email: minister@mod.gov.il  
Salutation: Dear Minister

Minister of Justice, Fax: + 972 2 628 7757; + 972 2 628 8618 

Attorney General, Fax: + 972 2 627 4481; + 972 2 628 5438; +972 2 530 3367

***Please inform DCI-Palestine if you receive any response to your appeals and quote the UA number at the top of this document – ria@dci-pal.org