Prisoners’ Advocates:

40% of Palestinian Lawmakers Were at One Point Detained by Israel

Since the 2006 general elections in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, 40% of the members of the Palestinian parliament, the Legislative Council (PLC), have been detained by the Israeli authorities at one time or another, three prisoners advocacy groups said on Tuesday.

News ID: 442534

Date: 21 December 2018 - 18:01

RNA - Two of the lawmakers, Marwan Barghouti of Fatah and Ahmad Saadat of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), are serving long prison terms, with Barghouti sentenced to five life sentences for his role in the second Palestinian Intifada (uprising) and Saadat serving 30 years for his party role in the killing of an Israeli lawmaker, WAFA reported.

The Palestinian Prisoner Society, Addameer and the Prisoners Commission said in their joint report that the Israeli authorities have been targeting Palestinian deputies and political activists by holding them in administrative detention without charge or trial for long periods of time in order to prevent them from performing their societal and national roles.

They said in November, Israel detained two PLC deputies: Mohammad Abu Juhaisha from Hebron and Ahmed Attoun from Jerusalem who has been exiled to the West Bank and placed them under administrative detention.

Currently, there are six lawmakers held in administrative detention, including Khalida Jarrar, from the PFLP, who had served time in prison and was later re-arrested and placed in administrative detention since July 2017.

In addition, one lawmaker, Nasser Abdu Jawwad, is in prison awaiting trial since his detention in January of this year.

The three groups added that international law considers the arrest of deputies as a violation.

According to the report, Israel detained 486 Palestinians during November, including 65 children and 9 women.

They stated that the Israeli authorities detained 150 people from Jerusalem, 71 from the governorate of Ramallah and al-Bireh, 77 from Hebron governorate, 28 from Jenin governorate, 34 from Bethlehem governorate, 36 from Nablus governorate, 32 from Tulkarm governorate, 23 citizens from Qalqilya area, 12 from the governorate of Toubas, 8 from Salfit, 6 from the governorate of Jericho and 9 from the Gaza Strip.

The number of Palestinian prisoners and detainees in Israeli jails until November 31 was 5700, including 54 were women, among them a minor girl. The number of children held in Israeli jails reached 230. In addition, 104 were served with administrative detention orders this year, including 25 new orders, to bring the total number of administrative detainees to 482.

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