On Monday 22 June 2015, the Israeli military court in Ofar adjourned the trial of Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) member, Khalida Jarrar, indefinitely.

At approximately 1:00 am on Thursday, 2 April 2015, Israeli forces broke into the house of Khalida Jarrar and arrested her. On the same day, the military commander of the West Bank areas in Ofer Court sentenced her to six months of administrative detention. She was detained until Wednesday, 8 April 2015, pending a Court decision to confirm or revoke the sentence. The trail was then postponed until 15 April 2015 to enable the defense to obtain articles from the Israeli Military Advocate General (MAG) to create its defense. During the session, the MAG announced that it would not present a bill of indictment against Jarrar until the end of her arrest period as the MAG was not convinced that there was enough evidence to arrest Jarrar.

On 15 April 2015, the second session was held to review the administrative detention order; however, the MAG presented a bill of indictment against Jarrar. The Court decided to postpone its decision until 6 May 2015 on the approval of the administrative detention. Mrs Jarrar was referred to another Court room where the MAG presented a bill of indictment against her. The 12 charges issued against Mrs Khalida Jarrar indicate that her arrest, detention and indictment by Israeli military authorities are a direct result of her human rights advocacy work on behalf of prisoners’ rights, and for exercising her rights to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly.

On 4 May 2015, Khalida Jarrar’s administrative detention was officially terminated. However, she is being imprisoned on the basis of the indictment against her. Furthermore, the military prosecution asked to review secret evidence against Jarrar from her administrative detention; evidence that Jarrar has not been informed of, in violation of the principles of a fair trial. This is an indication that the evidence being used against Jarrar is not valid to keep her imprisoned until the end of the proceedings.

All of the 12 charges against Jarrar are related to her political activities and advocacy for Palestinian political prisoners. The main charge against Jarrar is her affiliation to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine; its members are banned through an Israeli military order from attending public events, engaging in television interviews or giving public speeches.

On May 21, a military court judge ordered Jarrar’s release on bail set at 20,000 ILS. However, the military prosecution appealed the release order, and on May 28 2015, the military court ordered Jarrar imprisonment until the end of proceedings. Jarrar and her lawyer will not be allowed to see the secret evidence held against her.

Al Mezan Center for Human Rights strongly condemns the continued imprisonment of Khalida Jarrar. The arrest is within the context of continued violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and International Human Rights Law (IHRL) by Israel vis-a-vis Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) and Israel’s widespread use of administrative detention.

Therefore, Al Mezan calls on the international community to promptly intervene to secure the release of Jarrar and to oblige the Israeli authority to respect IHL and IHRL principles in relation to Palestinians in the oPt. Al Mezan asserts that the silence of the international community has encouraged continued violations.

Al Mezan also calls on civil society organizations, national and international human rights organizations, political parties and neighboring states to work seriously on the issue of Palestinian detainees and prisoners; to raise awareness of the Israeli violations of international law, and to oblige the Israeli authorities to uphold its legal obligations to respect the rights of detainees.

Al Mezan calls on the International Parliamentary Union and national and local parliaments to exert political and diplomatic pressure to secure the release of Jarrar and her PLC colleagues immediately.

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