
Mohammed Othman, a leader of the non-violent resistance to the separation barrier in Bil'in, has been placed under administrative detention following 60 days under arrest. Othman was arrested by the Israelis at Allenby Bridge, as he returned to his West Bank home after a speaking engagement in Norway. He has not been charged with any crime.
There is a blog with regular updates about Othman's status, called Free Mohammed Othman:
The following is a press release from Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association.
On 23 November 2009, after 61 days of detention for the purpose of
interrogation by Israeli Security Agency officers, human rights defender
Mohammad Othman received his first administrative detention order. The
administrative detention order is set for a three month period, during which
time Mohammad will be held without charge or trial. The judicial review of the
order is scheduled to take place on 25 November at the Military Court of
Administrative Detainees in Ofer Military Base, near the West Bank city of
Ramallah.
The
administrative detention order against Mohammad comes just one day after a
hearing on 22 November 2009 at the Military Court of Appeals ended Mohammad's
interrogation period. In the Appeals Court hearing, the judge decided to
release Mohammad because no measurable progress had been made during the two
months he had been held in interrogation, no external evidence had been brought
to the attention of the court and the military prosecution had been unable to
formulate substantiated allegations or charges against him. The Appeals Court
judge thus accepted Addameer's appeal against the seventh extension of
Mohammad's detention, which had taken place five days earlier. At the same
time, the judge ordered Mohammad's release on 10,000 NIS bail (about $2,500
USD) and with the conditions that he not travel outside the occupied
Palestinian territory, and that he regularly reports to the Israeli police.
However, the military judge also gave the military prosecutor 24 hours to issue
an administrative detention order against Mohammad, and remanded Mohammad to
detention during this period. At 6:30 p.m. on 23 November 2009, Addameer
confirmed with the Israeli Security Agency that an administrative detention
order had been issued against Mohammad, and that he would not be released.
Mohammad
Othman, a long-time human rights defender and activist with the "Grassroots
Stop the Wall Campaign", was arrested at the Allenby Bridge Crossing between
Jordan and the West Bank. On the day of his arrest, 22 September 2009, Mohammad
was on his way back to Ramallah from an advocacy tour in Norway where he had
been engaged in a number of speaking events.
Addameer is alarmed by reports from Mohammad
that he was repeatedly threatened with administrative detention during his
two-month long interrogation period. Addameer believes that with these repeated
threats, the Israeli interrogation police aimed to coerce Mohammad into giving
a false confession to crimes he did not commit. Most recently, on 19 November,
after Mohammad was transferred back to Kishon detention center from Ohalei
Keidar prison in Beersheba where he had been held in a so-called
"collaborators' cell", he was told by one of the Israeli interrogators that his
detention would not be extended again and that he would be placed under
administrative detention if he failed to confess. Addameer therefore contends
that Mohammad's arrest and administrative detention are completely arbitrary
and are a prime example of Israel's use of administrative detention as a
substitute for prosecution, rather than as a preventative measure allowed by
international humanitarian law for "imperative reasons of security" or "if the
security of the Detaining Power makes it absolutely necessary" (Fourth Geneva
Convention, Articles 42 and 78).
Further,
Addameer reiterates the position that Mohammad's arrest constitutes a violation
of a number of international human rights instruments, in particular the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the UN Declaration on
Human Rights Defenders. Considering that, sixty days after Mohammad's arrest
Israeli authorities have been unable to cite any legitimate suspicions or
allegations to justify his detention, and that the Court of Appeals judge
directed that Mohammad should be released, Addameer believes that Mohammad is
being detained administratively as a punishment for his human rights activism.
In addition, there is reason to believe that the Israeli military authorities
use Mohammad's continuous detention as an example to deter other activists,
including those active against the occupation and the Annexation Wall in
particular, from continuing their human rights work.
BACKGROUND ON
ADMINISTRATIVE DETENTION
Administrative
detention is a procedure that allows the Israeli military to hold detainees
indefinitely on secret evidence without charging them or allowing them to stand
trial. In the occupied Palestinian West Bank, the Israeli army is authorized to
issue administrative detention orders against Palestinian civilians on the
basis of Military Order 1591. This order empowers military commanders to detain
an individual for up to six months renewable periods if they have "reasonable
grounds to presume that the security of the area or public security require the
detention." On or just before the expiry date, the detention order is
frequently renewed. This process can be continued indefinitely.
There is no
explicit limit to the maximum amount of time an individual may be
administratively detained, leaving room for indefinite legal detention. The
grounds on which someone can be detained under Military Order 1591 are also
unclear, leaving it up to the military commanders to decide what constitutes
"public security" and "security of the area". Detainees subject to
administrative detention orders are rarely informed of the reasons for their
detention; neither are their lawyers. At the judicial review of a detention
order, which is held in a closed hearing before a military judge, the judge can
uphold, cancel or shorten the order. In most cases, however, administrative
detention orders are confirmed for the same periods as those requested by the
military commander. Although the detainee can appeal the decision at the
judicial review, in practice, the vast majority of appeals are rejected.
Posted
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24 Nov 2009 9:11 AM
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