At approximately 9:00 am on Monday, 1 June 2014, Israeli occupation forces (IOF) arrested Hazem Ziyad Al Madhoun, 26, the Monitoring and Evaluation Officer at Première Urgence – Aide Médicale Internationale.
He was arrested at Erez crossing after being interrogated by Israeli security.
The Al Mezan Center for Human Rights condemns the arrest of Al Madhoun, which reflects the continued Israeli policy of trapping and coercing Palestinians at crossings who are seeking access to work, healthcare or family life.
According to Al Mezan’s field investigations, the Première Urgence applied for Al Madhoun and six of his colleagues to travel via Erez crossing to participate in a three-day training course in Ramallah in the West Bank.
The Israeli security agency requested a security interview with the permit applicants.
Al Madhoun went on three occasions to Erez crossing; the first time was on 27 May 2014, the second was one 28 May 2014, and, during the third interview on 1 June 2014, the IOF arrested Al Madhoun.
The reasons are still unknown.
According to Al Mezan’s lawyer, the IOF presented Al Madhoun before the court in Israel on 2 June 2014 whereby his detention was set until 9 June 2014.
Al Madhoun was arrested within the context of the Israeli closure of the Gaza Strip that seriously restricts the movement and access of the civilian population through Erez crossing; the crossing is also used by the IOF to arbitrarily arrest, coerce, and blackmail Palestinians.
Protesting Israel’s policy of arbitrary detention, 140 Palestinian detainees currently maintain an open-ended hunger strike in in nine Israeli prisons.
The detainees have been on hunger strike for 41 consecutive days.
Israel’s administrative detention law allows the IOF to arbitrarily detain Palestinians and to extend their detention for years without trial or charge.
Approximately 1,500 detainees joined the hunger strikers as a symbol of solidarity.
Al Mezan condemns the arrest of Al Madhoun and calls for his immediate release.
Israel is bound by its international obligations to ensure the welfare of the civilian population under its control and facilitate their movement.
Human rights standards, as codified in the Universal Declaration for Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, dictate that every person has a right to free movement and to protection against arbitrary detention and abuse.
Therefore, Al Mezan calls on the international community to intervene to end the arbitrary arrest and administrative detention policies.
Al Mezan calls on the international community to take effective steps to bring to an end Israel’s violations of these obligations and to secure the due protection of Palestinian civilians.
The international community should intervene to secure the swift release of Al Madhoun.
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