Israeli courts continue permitting the perpetuation of serious human rights violations against the Palestinian population of the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT).
On 25 March 2008, the Israeli Central Court in Jerusalem issued a decision considering a detainee, Khalid Salim Saeed, as an “illegal fighter".
This decision incurs serious legal and human rights consequences.
According to it, Saeed's detention by the Israeli authorities can continue without pressing any charges or indictment against him, or granting him a fair trial.
39-year-old Saeed, who is the father of two children, was arrested on 20 December 2007.
He is a resident of Deir Al Balah town in central Gaza Strip.
The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) sought this decision from the court after it could not establish any evidence proving Saeed's involvement in any illegal acts according to Israeli law.
The IOF transferred Saeed to the Central Court in Jerusalem for trial according to a special act: the Illegal Fighters Law.
Under this law, the court ruled that Saeed was an illegal fighter, basing its judgment on Israeli prosecutors claim they had a secret file and secret intelligence information on alleged activities against the security of the state of Israel and his membership in an enemy organization.
The Israeli Knesset enacted the Illegal Fighters Law in 2002.
The law legalized the detention of Lebanese prisoners without sufficient evidence for trial.
This law gives the Chief of Staff of the Israeli Army the right to request that any citizen from the Gaza Strip be deemed an "illegal fighter" from the Israeli Central Court in Jerusalem.
The Chief may request this according to secret information and reports from Israeli intelligence, and without conventionally acceptable evidence sufficient to stand regular trial.
This law also gives the Israeli court the power to issue a decision to detain Palestinians for an indefinite period.
Al Mezan condemns the Illegal Fighters Law as a gross violation of international humanitarian law (IHL), particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention on the Protection of the Civilian Population.
It also constitutes a serious violation of human rights principles and the minimum standards for conducting a fair trial.
Since Israeli courts do not need to issue indictments against detainees and can hold detainees for an indefinite period without charges, the detained automatically loose their right to defend themselves before the courts.
More seriously, the designation of a detainee as an “illegal fighter" can be decided after his/her serving a sentence for acts he/she was prosecuted.
Al Mezan Center for Human Rights believes that the continued detention of Palestinian citizens based on labeling them as illegal fighters violates, inter alia, the international standards for a fair trial.
Protection must be provided to the detainees in accordance with the rules of international law at all time.
The court's ruling reveals once again the nature of the Israeli judiciary, which tends to provide legal cover for clear violations committed by the IOF in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT).
Al Mezan calls on the international community condemn the Illegal Fighters Law and its violation of Israel's obligations under IHL and IHRL.
The international community is also called upon to intervene immediately to provide protection for Palestinian detainees and for abolishment of the aforementioned law, and to uphold its legal obligations towards Palestinian civilians, especially detainees who are subjected to systematic abuse of justice.
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