Tag: Al Haq

Concern mounts for three remaining hunger strikers

30 July 2012 | Addameer, Al Haq, PHR-Israel

Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, Al-Haq and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-IL) are gravely concerned for the life and health of the three remaining Palestinian hunger strikers held by Israel. Of utmost concern is the health and life of administrative detainees Samer Al-Barq, today on his 70th day of renewed hunger strike, and Hassan Safadi who is on his 40th day of renewed hunger strike. Samer, whose current strike follows his previous 28-day strike and whose health continues to deteriorate rapidly, is only taking salts and vitamins and he is still being held in isolation.

Following the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) denial of access of an independent doctor to the hunger strikers Samer, Hassan and prisoner Akram Rikhawi, PHR-IL submitted three appeals to the district court of Petah Tekva requesting immediate access to independent doctors. On 23 July, the district court ordered the IPS to allow an independent doctor to see Samer no later than 1 August and to see Hassan and Akram within two days of the hearing.

Despite prior coordination with the IPS regarding a PHR-IL doctor’s visit to Ramleh prison medical centre on 25 July to examine both Akram and Hassan, the IPS informed the doctor on her arrival that Hassan had been taken to a court hearing and therefore only Akram could be examined. In clear breach of the court order, the IPS still ignores PHR-IL requests to allow the independent doctor visit to Samer and Hassan.

Akram Rikhawi ended his hunger strike on 22 July after 102 days upon reaching an agreement with the IPS. According to the agreement Akram will be released on 25 January 2013 to his home in the Gaza Strip, which is six months prior to his original release date.

Following the visit to Akram, the PHR-IL doctor reported that though his general feeling has improved, he is still suffering from multiple conditions which have been left untreated. Akram’s asthma continues to be a cause for concern and is severely unstable despite treatment with steroids. The doctor also emphasized that asthma is a life-threatening illness that in the case of a severe attack could lead to death. Furthermore, the doctor also found that Akram suffers from unbalanced diabetes and recommended the renewal of his treatment which was stopped during the hunger strike.

Akram also suffers from severe weakness in his left foot with a lack of full sensation in his left thigh. As his condition has not improved since ending the strike, this would indicate progressive motor and sensory damage to the left thigh. The PHR-IL doctor recommended Akram’s immediate referral to a public hospital in order to identify the etiology and to perform a full neurological investigation.

It should be noted that in the two previous visits of the PHR-IL doctors to Akram, on 6 June and 5 July, both recommended further medical neurological investigation and warned of the danger of peripheral nerve damage. The doctors also recommended immediate examination by a lung specialist. To date, these recommendations have not been performed.

Hassan Safadi is on his 40th day of renewed hunger strike, after previously spending 71 days on prolonged hunger strike. His last administrative detention order was due to expire on 29 June and, according to the agreement ending the Palestinian prisoners’ mass hunger strike, he was supposed to be released on that date. However on 21 June he was informed of the renewal of his administrative detention order for a further six months, in violation of the agreement.

According to PHR-IL lawyer Mohamad Mahagni following his visit to Hassan on 22 July, Hassan is currently being held in an isolated cell. Hassan has reported escalating pressure from the IPS to end his hunger strike. Hassan further noted that his court hearing on 25 July has been delayed again until 07 August, stressing that he is in no condition to travel 15 hours every time for the court hearings. He also reported suffering from kidney problems, sight problems, extreme weakness, severe weight loss, headaches, dizziness and has difficulty standing.

Today represents Ayman Sharawna’s 30^th day of hunger strike. Ayman was released as part of the prisoner exchange deal in October 2011, only to be re-arrested on 31 January 2012. No charges have been filed against him. Ayman has been recently transferred to Ramleh prison medical center due to the deterioration in his health.

While administrative detention is allowed under international humanitarian law, it must be used only under exceptional circumstances as it infringes upon basic human rights, including the right to a fair trial. Indeed, the denial of a fair trial constitutes a ‘grave breach’ of the Fourth Geneva Convention. Furthermore, the European Parliament called on Israel in a September 2008 resolution to “guarantee that minimum standards on detention be respected, to bring to trial all detainees, [and] to put an end to the use of ‘administrative detention orders”. The United Nations Human Rights Committee has stated several times that prolonged administrative detention is likely to result in the exposure of detainees to “torture, ill-treatment and other violations of human rights.”

In light of the further deterioration of the conditions of the remaining Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike, Addameer, Al-Haq and PHR-IL urge the international community to immediately intervene on their behalf and demand:

That the agreements reached on 14 and 15 May 2012 be respected, including the release of administrative detainees who were promised release at the end of their current orders, renewal of family visits and lifting of the punitive measures used against Palestinians in Israeli custody;

Unrestricted access for independent physicians to all hunger strikers;
The immediate transfer of Akram Rikhawi and Samer Al-Barq, as well as all other hunger strikers who have been striking to for more than 40 days to public hospitals;
That no hunger striker be shackled while hospitalized;
That all hunger strikers—especially those in advanced stages of hunger strike—be allowed family visits, while they are still lucid;
That all information regarding prisoners medical conditions be given to their families, in accordance with standards of medical ethics;
That Hassan Safadi, Samer Al-Barq and Omar Abo-Shalal along with all other administrative detainees, be immediately and unconditionally released;

The willful killing of Aqel Srour following a Ni’lin demonstration against the Annexation Wall

Al Haq

30 June 2009

The Willful Killing of Aqel Srour Following a Ni’lin Demonstration against the Annexation Wall: a deplorable illustration of Impunity’s Slippery Slope

As a Palestinian human rights organisation dedicated to the promotion and protection of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), Al-Haq regrets once again having to draw attention to the deadly consequences of the pervasive culture of impunity among the ranks of the Israeli military establishment. The lack of accountability for Border Police who have employed excessive force to suppress civilian demonstrations against Israel’s illegal construction of the Annexation Wall in the OPT, is a scenario which has sadly become an archetypal example of this culture of impunity. The willful killing by an Israeli Border Police officer of an unarmed civilian in Ni’lin village after the conclusion of a demonstration just over two weeks ago is a regrettable illustration of impunity’s slippery slope.

Facts

According to Al-Haq’s field information, the circumstances surrounding this wilful killing are the following:

On Friday, 5 June 2009, at approximately 2:30 pm, unarmed Palestinian demonstrators were dispersing after participating in the weekly protest against the construction of the Annexation Wall in the centre of the West Bank village of Ni’lin. The demonstration had been characterised by the use of force by Israeli Border Police against demonstrators, some of whom had thrown stones but who were otherwise unarmed and in no way posed a lethal threat to the policemen. One demonstrator was injured by live fire during the course of the demonstration.

At the conclusion of the demonstration, the Israeli Border Police unit drove away through one of the northern gates in the Wall. Following the departure of the military vehicles, five civilians dispersing from the demonstration approached the area of the northern gate. Unbeknownst to the five, one Border Police officer remained in the area, hidden behind a stone formation (formerly a well). A sixteen-year-old child, Mohammad Misleh Mousa, unwittingly approached the remaining officer, who shot Mohammed in the abdomen from a distance of 40 metres. Thirty-five-year-old Aqel Sadeq Dar Srour ran to assist Mohammad and was also shot in the chest by the officer. Immediately following these shootings and without calling for assistance, the officer left Ni’lin on foot through one of the northern gates in the Wall. Mohammad and Aqel were rushed to Ramallah Hospital. Aqel was pronounced dead upon arrival. Mohammad was hospitalised and underwent several operations and may be permanently paralysed as a result of a bullet’s penetration of his spine.

Legal Analysis

Any claim that the use of force against Mohammad and Aqel was lawfully employed in the context of a policing operation to quell a demonstration against the Wall and restore law and order must be discounted. The use of force by the police officer in this case cannot be directly correlated to the demonstration. As can be discerned from the fact that all of the Border Police left the area, with one exception, the demonstration was over.

The circumstances also preclude any claim that the Israeli officer acted in self-defence. The use of lethal force against an unarmed person posing no threat and who was completely unaware of the soldier’s presence is unjustifiable and constitutes arbitrary deprivation of life in contravention Israel, the Occupying Power’s, obligations under international human rights law.

Regrettably, the Israeli military’s rules of engagement have promoted arbitrary deprivation of life in the OPT since the outbreak of the Palestinian intifada in 2000. As the result of an expansive definition of “life threatening”, the rules allow military and security personnel to open fire on Palestinian civilians in non-life threatening circumstances, including situations in which protesters throw stones. Hence, the death and injury of numerous civilians at demonstration flashpoints related to the Annexation Wall, such as the villages of Bi’lin, Biddo and Ni’lin, is a result of Israel’s refusal to reconcile its rules of engagement with its international legal obligations. In highlighting the above, Al-Haq recalls the judgement of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Güleç v. Turkey. The ECHR held that despite the demonstrator’s use of stones, firearms and sticks against police officers, these circumstances did not render the resort by Turkish police to powerful live fire absolutely necessary. The resulting death of one demonstrator was therefore found to amount to a violation of the right to life.

Finally, in the case of Aqel, where the unlawful use of force by the officer resulted in death, the fact that live ammunition was employed, targeting sensitive parts of the body and without issuing any warning, strongly suggests ‘willful killing’. Willful killing is a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention for which the perpetrator is individually criminally responsible.

Al-Haq therefore joins the call by the Israeli human rights organisation B’Tselem for the Israeli Military Advocate General to initiate an independent and impartial investigation into the killing of Aqel Sadeq Dar Srour. Further, as a first step towards ending the culture of impunity, Al-Haq calls upon the Legal Advisor to the Israeli military to undertake a systematic review of the rules of engagement with a view to bringing them into compliance with Israel’s obligations under international law.

HRW: Israel Blocks Rights Defender’s Travel

Human Rights Watch

Shawan Jabarin of Al-Haq Unable to Collect Human Rights Prize

The Israeli High Court’s decision on March 10 to block travel outside the West Bank of the human rights defender Shawan Jabarin violates his rights to a fair hearing and freedom of movement, Human Rights Watch said today.

Based on secret evidence that neither Jabarin nor his lawyer were allowed to see, the court refused to lift a travel ban imposed on Jabarin by military order in 2006, shortly after he became the director of Al-Haq, a leading human rights organization in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Jabarin had petitioned to have the ban lifted in order to travel to the Netherlands this week, where he was to receive the prestigious 2009 Geuzen Medal, awarded by the Stichting Geuzenverzet Foundation, on behalf of Al-Haq. The Israel-based human rights group B’Tselem was the co-winner of this year’s award.

On March 5, Human Rights Watch sent a letter to Maxime Verhagen, the Dutch foreign minister, asking him “to intervene with [his] counterparts in Tel Aviv, so that they may understand the significance of the Geuzen Medal, and the counter-productive decision to block a human rights defender from conducting his work.”

In May 2008, Human Rights Watch wrote to Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, asking him to lift Jabarin’s travel ban.

“The travel ban on Shawan Jabarin does nothing to keep Israel safe, and instead keeps a human rights defender from doing his work,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “Jabarin is a strong advocate for the rule of law who routinely criticizes both Israeli and Palestinian authorities for violating human rights.”

Summary execution in southern West Bank

Palestine News Network

During the killing of over 1,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the demonstrations against them the occupation remains in the West Bank. This week a family lost their father in Hebron.

Yasser Saqr Ismail Tameizi had his six year old son with him. They were working on their land in Ithna Village, west of the city.

It was Tuesday morning and the 35 year old farmer’s death served as a violent reminder, commented the Al Haq Human Rights Organization, “that even as Israel engages in horrific and illegal attacks against the Gaza Strip, its oppressive occupation policies continue to undermine the lives of Palestinians in the West Bank.”

Tameizi had an Israeli-issued permit to reach his lands that the Wall had divided him from. Two eyewitnesses were in an adjacent field grazing their cattle and Tameizi and his six year old were 500 meters east of the Wall which is incomplete in this area of Hebron. Instead of a 10 meter concrete wall, it consists of barbed wire fencing that cuts through the village.

On 13 January at 11:00 am four Israeli soldiers entered Tameizi’s land through a gate in the Wall. They told the little boy to leave, which he did, and one of the soldiers kicked the father. Tameizi made a move to defend himself and his son and two of the soldiers knocked him to the ground and ties his hands behind his back. He was held down on his back by two soldiers sitting on his stomach while the others watched.

At noon an Israeli military jeep with four soldiers entered Tameizi’s land. After 15 minutes the man was thrown, blindfolded and still handcuffed, into the back of the jeep.

The eyewitnesses report, “The jeep then moved toward the gate, with four soldiers inside and the other four walking behind it.”

At 1:30 an APC, Armored Personnel Carrier, arrived and still on the side of the Wall facing the Israeli boundaries it left after 10 minutes with the jeep driving quickly to Tarqumiya Checkpoint.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society reports that its Hebron branch office received a phone call at approximately 3:00 pm in which Israeli soldiers told them to pick up Tameizi who was still in their custody.

He was dead before reaching the hospital.

The 35 year old man had been shot and died of the bullet wound to his stomach which exited through his lower back. The Red Crescent said it indicates he was shot at point blank range most likely while sitting down by someone above him aiming down.

Ramallah’s Al Haq referred today to the severe violation of international law, the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in addition to tenets of the Geneva Conventions and United Nations resolutions, as a “summary execution.”