Today at about 10:00 a.
m.
, the Israeli Military Court held a session to discuss the case of Mr.
Adnan al-Hajjar, Coordinator of the Legal Aid Unit at al-Mezan Center for Human Rights.
At the end of the session, the court’s judge decided to extend the arrest of Mr.
al-Hajjar for an additional 30 days; which reflects an Israeli determination to limit the activities of the Palestinian Human Rights organizations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
It is worth mentioning that the Israeli authorities arrested Mr.
al-Hajjar on 23 April 2001, as he was coming back to the Gaza Strip from Egypt and traveling through Rafah Crossing.
Mr.
Adnan al-Hajjar was part of a party that left the Gaza Strip on the 5th April to attend a training course on Legislative Formulation organized by the Arab Research and Training Center (ARTC) in Cairo as part of a program on Strengthening the Capacity of the Palestinian Legislative Council sponsored by Associates in Rural Development (ARD).
USAid financed the trip itself.
Mr.
al-Hajjar, Mr.
Tameem Younis, a lawyer authorized by al-Mezan center to follow up al-Hajjar’s case, and Mr.
Chris George, Director of ARD took part in the proceedings of the session.
During the session, Mr.
Tameem Younis stated that arresting Mr.
al-Hajjar was illegal and requested the court to release him, as the Israeli authorities did not provide specific claims against him.
Then Mr.
Chris George, Director of ARD, stressed that the purpose of al-Hajjar’s trip to Egypt was to participate in a training course on Legislative Formulation, which was sponsored by ARD.
In addition, Mr.
Chris George requested releasing Mr.
al-Hajjar.
On the other hand, a representative of the Israeli Military Authorities objected to releasing al-Hajjar.
He further claimed that they had a confidential no-access file of claims against al-Hajjar.
In addition, he refused to tell Mr.
al-Hajjar and his defendant Mr.
Tameem Younis about the nature and contents of the file.
At the end of the session, unfortunately, the judge decided to extend arresting al-Hajjar for additional 30 days for investigation purposes.
It is worth mentioning that the Israeli Prison Authority (in Ashkelon Prison) exerted severe psychological pressure against Mr.
al-Hajjar in an attempt to extract confessions.
In this context, yesterday, a number of Israeli investigation officers questioned Mr.
al-Hajjar for about 18 hours.
Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights perceives the decision of the Israeli Military Court at Ashkelon constitutes a dangerous escalation that reflects an Israeli policy aiming at limiting the freedom of expression in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, especially among the Palestinian Human Rights Organizations, which have revealed the grave Israeli breaches of the Palestinian human rights.
In addition, al-Mezan stresses that continuing to arrest Mr.
al-Hajjar is absolutely unjustifiable.
Moreover, we, at al-Mezan center, are profoundly concerned that al-Hajjar will be subjected to severe forms torture in an attempt to extract a confession from him, especially after claiming the existence of a no-access file of claims against him.
Al-Mezan requests to immediately release Mr.
al-Hajjar, and considers the Israeli government fully responsible for al-Hajjar’s safety.
It further considers the USAID responsible for returning al-Hajjar back to his family and work safe and sound as it was the party that financed the training course in which al-Hajjar took place.
In addition, it requests the USAID to abandon the state of silence and indifference it has shown since the arrest of al-Hajjar.
Al-Mezan also requests the local and international organizations to increase their efforts to guarantee the immediate release of Mr.
al-Hajjar.
End