LAW SUBMITS PETITION TO THE HIGH COURT TO REVIEW ADMINISTRATIVE DETENTION
24 July 1997
An attorney for LAW - The Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment petitioned the Israeli High Court on 24 July to demand from the Military Commander for the West Bank an explanation as to why he intends to extend the administrative detention of Abed Al Rahem al Ahmar. Al Ahmar, a resident of Bethlehem, was put in administrative detention in November 1995, and has remained in detention since.Currently, the administrative detainees are boycotting the established but ineffective appeals process so, for the last year, administrative detention orders have been issued and summarily extended without judicial review.
This petition demands that the High Court of Justice intervene in the renewal process before the extension is issued, and require that an explanation be given by the Military Commander of the West Bank of the reasons for extending the detention, which are normally kept secret.
In addition, as Al-Ahmar and many others are from Area A, and thus under full Palestinian control, the petition relies on principles of international human rights law which requires immediate release of detainees when a significant change in circumstances occurs, such as redeployment by an occupier.
Currently, there are 280 detainees, nearly half of whose orders have been extended at least once. Eleven detainees have been in prison for over three years, the longest serving of whom is Ahmad Qattamesh, who has been administratively detained for nearly five years.
LAW calls for the immediate release of all the administrative detainees, in accordance with the understandings come to in the Interim Agreement, or Oslo II.
LAW - The Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment is a non-governmental organization, dedicated to preserving human rights through legal advocacy. LAW is also an affiliate member of the Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights.