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Administrative detention instead of bail
URGENT ACTION
Human rights defender administratively detained
Israeli authorities arrested Palestinian human rights defender Hasan Ghassan
Ghaleb Safadi on 1 May. He was due to be released on bail on 10 June but he
has been placed under a six-month administrative detention, despite his
parents paying the bail to the court. The detention order was confirmed on
28 June.
Hasan Ghassan Ghaleb Safadi, 24, is a Palestinian resident of occupied East
Jerusalem, and the media coordinator for prisoners’ rights group Addameer.
He was arrested by the Israeli authorities at the al Karameh border crossing
between Jordan and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) on 1 May. He
was transferred to the al Moscobiyyah Police Detention Centre in Jerusalem
and interrogated for 40 days both there and at Ktziot prison in the Negev,
southern Israel. Safadi told his lawyer that he had been subjected to sleep
deprivation and tied in stress positions during his interrogation, treatment
that violates the prohibition, under international law, of torture and other
ill-treatment. He was also denied access to his lawyer for 10 days, from 12
to 22 May.

The Jerusalem Magistrates Court charged Safadi with visiting an “enemy”
country at a hearing on June 10 and ordered Safadi to be released on bail of
2,500NIS (US$ 650). He was due to be released the same day after his parents
had paid the bail to the court. As his parents waited for him, however, they
were informed that he had been placed under a six-month administrative
detention order signed by the defence minister Avigdor Lieberman. The
detention order was confirmed at a hearing at the Jerusalem Magistrates
Court on 28 June. Safadi is being held in Ktziot prison.

The Israeli authorities have long used administrative detention as an
alternative to bringing Palestinians to trial, and this case appears to be a
prime example. Israel is routinely violating Palestinians’ rights to freedom
of expression and freedom of association in the OPT and is targeting human
rights defenders, including by arbitrary arrest and detention, torture and
other ill-treatment in custody and arbitrary restrictions on movement.

Please write immediately in English, Hebrew or your own language:
n Calling on the authorities to respect the court’s decision and release
Hasan Ghassan Ghaleb Safadi on bail pending a fair trial that conforms to
international standards;
n Calling on the authorities to end their long-standing attacks on
Palestinian human rights defenders and halt the harassment and intimidation
of human rights defenders in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian
Territories.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 15 AUGUST 2016 TO:
Minister of Defence
Avigdor Liberman
Ministry of Defence
37 Kaplan Street
Hakirya
Tel Aviv 61909, Israel
Fax: +972 73 323 3300
Email: minister@mod.gov.il
Salutation: Dear Minister
Minister of Justice
Ayelet Shaked
Ministry of Justice
29 Salah al-Din Street
Jerusalem, 91010, Israel
Fax: +972 2 640 8402
Email: sar@justice.gov.il
Salutation: Dear Minister

And copies to:
Attorney General
Avichai Mendelbilt
Ministry of Justice
29 Salah al-Din Street
Jerusalem 91010, Israel
Fax: +972 2 530 3367
Email: ishkat-yoetz@justice.gov.il

Also send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited to your country.
Please insert local diplomatic addresses below:
Name Address 1 Address 2 Address 3 Fax Fax number Email Email address
Salutation Salutation

Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above
date.
URGENT ACTION

Human rights defender administratively detained

ADditional Information

Hasan Safadi started working as media coordinator for the prisoners’ rights
NGO Addameer in 2013. Before he had worked as a journalist. Hasan Safadi’s
mother told Addameer that the night before he was due to be released on 10
June, “I could not sleep from joy and excitement and could not wait to see
my son sitting among us at home again. The next morning, on the day of his
expected release, I went with Hasan’s father to the court carrying the
amount of money required for his release. Hasan’s father paid the money and
signed a pledge to abide by the conditions given by the court. Then, we
began to wait. We waited at the door of the courts for long hours, and
later, we got the news that Hasan has been placed under administrative
detention. I did not know how I received the shocking news. I started crying
loudly for the first time since Hasan’s arrest.”

Administrative detention – ostensibly introduced as an exceptional measure
to detain people who pose an extreme and imminent danger to security – is
used by Israel as an alternative to the criminal justice system to arrest,
charge and prosecute people suspected of criminal offences, or to detain
people who should not have been arrested at all. Orders can be renewed
indefinitely and evidence is kept secret, meaning that detainees are not
able to challenge their detention and do not know when they will be
released. Amnesty International believes that some Palestinians held in
administrative detention by Israel are prisoners of conscience, held solely
for the peaceful exercise of their right to freedom of expression and
association. Since October 2015, violence in Israel and the OPT has
increased dramatically. As during other periods of heightened tension in the
OPT, the Israeli authorities responded by carrying out mass arrests, and
issuing more and more administrative detention orders, including a
resumption of its use against children. According to the Israeli human
rights organisation B’tselem there were 692 Palestinians being held under
administrative detention orders by Israel at the end of April 2016. This
compares to 400 at the end of April 2015.

All but one of the Israeli prisons holding Palestinian administrative
detainees is located inside Israel. The detention of Palestinians from the
OPT inside Israel violates international law. The Fourth Geneva Convention
stipulates that detainees from occupied territories must be held in the
occupied territory, not in the territory of the occupying power.

Amnesty International has documented an escalation of acts of intimidation
by the Israeli government against human rights defenders (HRDs) in the OPT.
Israel has also taken steps to curtail freedom of expression inside Israel
with officials using intimidation to target HRDs. Recent legislative
initiatives that are apparently aimed at constricting freedom of expression
have gone hand in hand with an ever-darkening public mood against those who
criticise the Israeli government.

Name: Hasan Ghassan Ghaleb Safadi
Gender m/f: m

UA: 154/16 Index: MDE 15/4376/2016 Issue Date: 4 July 2016

https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/MDE15/4376/2016/en/

-------------------------------------

East Mediterranean Team
Amnesty International, International Secretariat
Peter Benenson House, 1 Easton Street
London WC1X 0DW
United Kingdom
E-mail: Eastmed@amnesty.org
Tel: +44 (0)20 7413 5500
Fax: +44 (0)20 7413 5719
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