Today, Friday, the Palestine Center for Prisoners Studies confirmed that the occupation mock courts escalated during the year 2020 the issuance of administrative detention orders against Palestinian prisoners, issuing (1100) administrative decisions between new and renewal.
The following is the text of the statement as received by Sawa Agency:
The Palestine Center for Prisoners Studies confirmed that the occupation mock courts escalated during the year 2020 the issuance of administrative detention orders against Palestinian prisoners, as they issued (1100) administrative decisions between new and renewal.
The Palestine Center stated that the occupation did not heed the calls and appeals issued by many international institutions, including the United Nations, to release the administrators because they were political prisoners in light of the spread of the Corona pandemic, and during the past year it continued to issue administrative orders against prisoners, which represented an increase of 8% For the year 2019, during which (1020) administrative decisions were issued.
The researcher, "Riad Al-Ashqar, director of the center, said that the occupation aims, from the policy of administrative detention, to drain the lives of Palestinians behind bars without charges, except for the illusions of the intelligence service officer who manages this file and dictates instructions to the moot courts to issue new administrative orders or renewal for other periods based on secret files. No one is allowed to see it.
Al-Ashqar added that the administrative decisions affected all classes of prisoners, including women and children, national and Islamic leaders, academics, activists, journalists, and members of the Legislative Council, as administrative orders were issued against 9 deputies, 6 of whom are still in the administration, and they are "Muhammad Abu Tair" and " Ahmad Atoun from Jerusalem, Muhammad al-Tal, Nizar Ramadan from Hebron, Hassan Youssef from Ramallah, and Khaled Tafesh from Bethlehem.
Between new and renewal
Al-Ashkar pointed out that during the past year (1100) administrative decisions were issued against prisoners, including (750) decisions to renew administrative detention for other periods extending between two months to 6 months, while (350) administrative decisions were issued against prisoners for the first time, most of whom were released prisoners. Arrest them.
The city of Hebron, as usual, occupied the highest percentage in administrative decisions, reaching (290) administrative decisions, with 25% of the administrative decisions issued during the year 2020, followed by Ramallah, then Bethlehem.
Al-Ashqar went on to say that a number of prisoners have renewed their administrative services 5 times in a row and are still in captivity, the oldest of whom is the prisoner, "Ghassan Ibrahim Zawahra," 38 years old from Bethlehem, who has been detained since December 2018, and the captive Islam Mahmoud Barghouti "from Ramallah and has been detained since September 2019, and the captive engineer “Yusef Qazzaz” (47 years old) from Hebron, who has been detained since August 2019.
He also renewed to the prisoner “Moamen Al-Atrash from the city of Hebron 5 times, before he was released several months ago and was arrested in June 2018, as well as the prisoner“ Hatem Sabarneh ”27 years from Hebron, he renewed him 5 times, and he has been detained since February 2019.
Women and children
"Al-Ashqar" stated that the occupation is holding 3 Palestinian prisoners under administrative detention. They are the captive "Shorouk Muhammad Al-Badan" (26 years) from Bethlehem. She is a freed prisoner who was re-arrested in September and an administrative detention order was issued against her for a period of 6 months. (26 years) from Al-Bireh, who is also a freed prisoner who was re-arrested in November and issued an administrative detention order for a period of 4 months, and the captive, Khitam Al-Khatib, 57 years old, from Ramallah, is a feminist activist and an administrative detention order was issued against her for a period of 6 months.
While the occupation courts issued administrative detention orders against 4 children during the past year, three of them served their administrative sentences and were released, while the child, "Suleiman Salem Qatash," 16 years old, from Ramallah, is still under arrest, and the administrator renewed him 4 consecutive times after the occupation had recently breached its promise to issue A fundamental decision against him, while he was arrested in December 2019.
hunger strike
Al-Ashqar reported that during the year 2020, (23) prisoners went on individual hunger strikes for different periods in protest against their administrative detention, which ranged from two weeks to four months. He lasted 104 consecutive days, and nearly lost his life. He won his battle against the occupation and was released after the end of the first administrative period of 4 months.
Likewise, the prisoner “Fadi Ibrahim Ghanimat” (40 years), from Hebron, went on strike that continued after breaking his promise and withdrawing al-Jawhary’s decision, and suspended his strike after (29) days, according to an agreement to limit his administrative detention.
The prisoner “Uday Shehadeh” (24 years old) from Bethlehem went on strike for a period of (30) days, and suspended his strike according to an agreement to limit his administrative detention, while the prisoner “Sami Muhammad Janazara” (48 years), from the city of Hebron, went on hunger strike For a period of 23 days, he suspended his strike after an agreement was reached to determine the ceiling of his administrative detention. The captive, “Muhammad Wahid Wahdan” from Ramallah, was arrested and went on strike for 23 days, and the prisoner “Abd al-Rahman Shuaibat” from Beit Sahour, went on strike for 33 days before He attached him to an agreement to determine the ceiling of his administrative detention.
While the prisoner "Jibril Muhammad Al-Zubaidi" (34 years), in the Jenin camp, started his strike last year and suspended it a few days ago during the current year, after 26 days, according to an agreement not to renew it again.
Collective punishment
Al-Ashqar indicated that by the end of 2020, the number of administrative prisoners reached (380) prisoners, the majority of whom were released prisoners who spent different periods in prisons and were re-arrested again, and most of them were renewed for other periods, while last year the policy of transferring prisoners to the administrator after the end of their actual sentences escalated.
Al-Ashqar considered administrative detention a sword hanging over the necks of the Palestinian people, and the occupation uses it excessively without taking into account the caveats laid down by international law, which limited its use except in a very narrow framework, which is considered a disregard for all customs and laws, and disregarding international institutions that called for the release Administrators fearing for their lives in light of the Corona crisis.
The Palestine Center called for a real and serious international position towards this criminal policy against the Palestinian people, as the occupation exploits the international law´s permission to resort to administrative detention for exceptional and individual security reasons, and uses it as a collective punishment for the Palestinians.
