For immediate release: September 4, 1996

HABEAS CORPUS PETITION TO ISRAELI HIGH COURT CALLING FOR RELEASE OF PALESTINIAN ADMINISTRATIVE DETAINEE

(Jerusalem) Yesterday, LAWE- the Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment submitted a habeas corpus petition to the Israeli High Court demanding the immediate release of Abed Al-Rahman Al-Ahmar from administrative detention. The petition was submitted by one of the Society's attorneys, Allegra Pacheco.

Al-Ahmar, a resident of Bethlehem, now under the sole jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority, was arrested without any charges by the Israeli army in November 1995 one month before the Israeli army's withdrawal from Bethlehem. He was placed in administrative detention for nine months, but after serving his third month, Al-Ahmar was taken to the Russian Compound prison in Jerusalem for two months of intensive interrogation, where he was tortured. At the end of the interrogation no evidence was found against him. Instead of being released however, the Israeli security forces sent him back to administrative detention for one year in Megiddo prison. He remains in Megiddo despite the fact that the Israeli forces forfeited their authority to arrest Palestinians from Palestinian -controlled Area A when they withdrew from the area.

Two weeks ago the Israeli military court held its standard semi-annual hearing to re-evaluate the one year administrative detention order. Al-Ahmar was not invited nor brought to the hearing despite the requirement under Israeli military order no.1424 that the detainee be brought in front of the judge. After evaluating the secret evidence and in Al-Ahmar's absence, the judge the confirmed the one-year detention order.

After the decision, Adv. Pacheco demanded that the Israelis release Al-Ahmar immediately. The Israeli responded that they would not release him and offered to hold another hearing. Adv. Pacheco then petitioned the High Court arguing that the Israeli's suggestion to hold another hearing was wholly illegal and a violation of the rule of law since the Israeli army had no authority to cancel a judicial decision on its own simply to correct its mistake. Adv. Pacheco also argued that holding another hearing on the same issue- Al-Ahmar's detention - violates Israeli law which prohibits the state from trying a person twice for the same offense. Releasing Al-Ahmar remains the only justifiable legal relief since the military order itself legislates that the detainee must be released if he is not brought before the judge. Finally Adv. Pacheco argued that the Israeli security forces had already exploited the limits of their power by arresting and holding Al-Ahmar for three months without any charges, interrogating and torturing him for two months and then by sending him back to administrative detention for a year without any trial. In this context, there is no justification in keeping Al-Ahmar in administrative detention after this last violation of Israeli law.

There are approximately 320 Palestinian administrative detainees inside Israeli prisons. Two- thirds of the detainees were arrested after the signing of the Oslo 2 Agreement. One quarter of the detainees are residents of Area A now under the sole jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority. The Israeli security forces continue to arrest and send Palestinians from Area A and the rest of the West Bank to administrative detention in Israel in violation of the Oslo 2 Agreement.