from Palestinian Human Rights Organisations
"From all that has been written above we find that the arrest of the plaintiffs in Ramallah Prison since Macrh 1996 and until now happened without any legal reason and took place in the absence of procedures and in contravention of the rule of law which gives us the power to accept this case and to find the arrest of the plaintiffs illegal. Release them directly."
Ramallah High Court of Justice, Case No. 96/25, August 18, 1996
Ramallah--On Sunday, August 18, a five-judge panel at the Palestinian High Court in Ramallah issued a unanimous decision declaring the detention of ten Birzeit University students illegal and ordering their immediate release. We as Palestinian Human R ights organizations welcomed this legal precedent as a solid endorsement of the rule of law in Palestine and a rejection of arbitrary detentions devoid of due process.
After issuing their ruling, the court prepared release orders for each of the students which were delivered by the lawyers to the Ramallah Central Prison. The director of the prison officially received the release orders on Sunday afternoon, signing each one. When the students' lawyers left the prison on Sunday, they were informed that the releases would take place by the end of the day. The following day (Monday, August 19) upon learning that the students had not been released as expected, the law yers called the prison and were informed that the officials were "awaiting a reply from Gaza" before implementing the release orders. In subsequent contact with prison officials the same information has been received.
As of today, Wednesday, August 22, the students have not been released by the prison. According to the applicable law, the government is obliged to implement the decisions of the High Court and no authority is permitted to influence the functioning o f the courts. We confirm that law enforcement officials of the Palestinian Executive Authority should be held fully responsible for full implementation of decisions of the judiciary.
The full and immediate implementation of the High Court decision by the Executive Authority is essential for guaranteeing a democratic society, respect for rule of law, the independence of the judiciary, and the separation of authorities.
We have come together, as concerned local human rights organizations, at this crucial moment to urge all officials of the Palestinian National Authority to respect the structures that have been put in place to organize our society.
[ENDS]