Arrest under the Governor’s custody in June
Since the beginning of June, the group has followed up on 5 administrative arrests pending under the governor decision, including 4 cases in the custody of the governor of Qalqilya and one in the custody of the governor of Ramallah. The group had obtained several previous decisions from the High Court of Justice in similar cases of detention; it had ruled that the arrest of the governor was false and illegal, in which it assaulted and exceeded the authority of the judiciary. Accordingly, the group asserts that the Public Prosecutor’s Office is the only legally competent body to prosecute any accused person of any nature of the charge, and that the use of the security services to arrest citizens in the custody of the governor aims to provide space for these organs to arbitrarily arrest citizens and conduct an illegal investigation outside the control of the court in which there is no minimum fair trial guarantees guaranteed under the Palestinian Basic Law and human rights conventions.
The trial of the accused in the assassination case of Nizar Banat is postponed without an official court session
In the supervisory role played by Lawyers for Justice group, by attending all the trials of the acؤused in the case of the assassination of political activist Nizar Banat from the beginning until today, the most recent updates in this case; the trial session of the accused was postponed, first from 10:00 am – as it was supposed to be held – until 02:00 pm, then it was postponed again to Sunday on 6/26/2022, without holding the official session in the Military Court in Ramallah, due to absence of defendants’ lawyer for his preoccupation in other cases.
Qalqilya Magistrate’s Court issues an acquittal in the case of Muhammad Al-Baz who is been accused of defaming the authority
The Qalqilya Magistrate’s Court decided this morning to acquit the former detainee, Muhammad Al-Baz, of the charge of defamation against the authority, in violation of Article 45 of Decree-Law No. 10 of 2018 in terms of Article 191 of Penalties No 16 to the year 60. The Preventive Security Service arrested Muhammad Al-Baz from Qalqilya governorate because of posts he wrote on his personal social media page, in which he criticizes the performance of the Palestinian Authority PLO, and in these publications he also criticizes the policy of political detention that targets those he described as respected people. He described the settlement agreements signed by the PLO as illegitimate, in addition he wrote that the authority is corrupted and accused the authority of killing Nizar Banat. After six months of prosecution, arrest and trial, the Magistrate’s Court in Qalqilya decided to declare his innocence. Accordingly, Lawyers for Justice group calls for the necessity of respecting rights, freedoms, and preserving the right to express opinion, no matter how climaxed it may be, as long as it is focused on legitimate criticism.The group also confirms that hundreds of files that were referred by city prosecutors on the same background receive acquittal verdicts at the conclusion of the trial, which requires waiting and reassessing the prosecution’s performance in the files referred to the courts or requests to extend arbitrary detentions that are arbitrarily submitted to the courts at the investigation stage. Punishing people, especially since the Public Prosecution Office exists to protect the public right, preserve rights, and freedoms, not to defend oppression and confiscation of constitutional rights enshrined by the Palestinian Basic Law. The group also stresses that the judiciary is required today to reconsider requests to extend the detention, so that the judiciary is not a haven to legitimize repression in the arrest stage, with the need also to repeal this decision by a law on cybercrime as it directly contradicts the Palestinian Basic Law and related human rightsconventions.
A public statement on the suppression of the protest by An-Najah University students
Lawyers for justice group followed up on the bloody events that took place yesterday inside the campus of Al-Najah University in the city of Nablus, what accompanied these events was the repression and beatings of dozens of university security staff, reaching the point of serious harm, against students sitting on campus using their natural and legitimate right to express their opinions and demands in a safe university life. The group also monitored the beating of these protesters by using sharp tools that were in the possession of the aforementioned security forces, in addition the use of pepper gas in the face of the students, and the beating of one of the university lecturers while he was among the students. While the group expresses its disapproval and surprise at how things have turned out on campus, it looks at the behavior that has occurred that expresses a violent approach that is fueled by more aggression and hatred within a large scientific edifice such as Al-Najah University, until the university has become a place of human rights violations and attacks on human dignity, amid suspicious silence of the official institution and its executive bodies, which distanced themselves from interfering and standing up to their job responsibilities despite the torrent of blood on the university campus, until it came to chasing students in the public streets and shooting from weapons and guns.Considering the bloody events that took place are clear crimes, including attempted murder, which require the intervention of the Public Prosecutor to carry out his legal responsibilities by opening a criminal investigation and issuing orders to arrest everyone involved in the assault on students in order to preserve the status and prestige of the public right. The group also confirms that the official statements made by the Governor of Nablus Governorate, considering the events of An-Najah University an internal affair, are an inseparable part of the event, reflects the state of official disregard for human rights violations and disregard for crimes committed without interference by law enforcement officials, and at the time In which the detention centers of the security services are filled with dozens of political detainees without any legal basis, the outlaws are protected.
Detainees under torture in Jericho
Updates on the status of the political detainees Ahmad khaseeb and Ahmad Hareesh; our colleague lawyer Ahmed khaseeb, is detained for nearly a week by Palestinian security forces, he is being subjected to torture and abuse inside the Security Committee’s detention center, according to the testimony of lawyers who were able to see him yesterday after he was brought to the Jericho Magistrate’s Court. Detainees Ahmed Harish confirmed before the Jericho Magistrate’s Court judge that he was severely tortured at the place of his arrest.Therefore, lawyers for Justice confirms that torturing detainees is a crime committed by those in charge of enforcement the law, the detention centers which are under the supervision of the Public Prosecution are committing such crimes amid suspicious silence. The judiciary’s failure to take a position in this regard is considered a cover-up of these crimes, which requires for the intervention of all Human Rights and unions to determine their role and responsibility in confronting this behavior that contradicts the Palestinian Basic Law and human rights conventions. The group of Lawyers for Justice also emphasize that torture not only a crime punishable by law, also leads to the nullification of all investigation procedures, and therefore the group warns against dealing with any confessions obtained under the torture and the threat to which detainees are exposed.
A political detainee Sulaiman Qatash hasn’t been presented to any judicial entity since 3 days
For three day in straight; the Palestinian Preventive Security Forces in Ramallah refuse to present the political detainee Suliaman Qatash to any judicial entity, note that he was detained in the preventive security center on 6/6/2022, after he was arrested from his home in the village of Yabroud, Ramallah district, at ten o’clock at night. Sulaiman Qatash is a former political detainee and a former prisoner in the occupying Israeli prisons as the youngest administrative prisoner for several months. His father; Salem Qatash is a former political detainee and he is currently imprisoned in the occupying Israeli prisons. Today, The General Prosecution has rejected the Lawyers for Justice group’s request to visit the detainee Qatash, on the pretext that there is no file for him in the Prosecution’s records, after the preventive security refused to allow the group to visit him. Lawyers for Justice group calls the Public Prosecution to take a serious action; to immediately release the detainee Qatash, especially after the Prosecution of Ramallah refrained from offering protection procedures and trial guarantees for Qatash. The group also calls all human rights organizations to take immediate action to ensure that the aforementioned detainee is not subjected to any harm or threat.
Continuing violations of human rights and public freedoms: highlighting some current cases
As we approach the end of the first quarter of 2022, the Palestinian arena is still witnessing increasing repression of public freedoms and human rights, and union and student work, and we are still in the presence of arbitrary detention without any legal justification.Recently, the most prominent violation was through firing live bullets and using weapons during the arrest process of activist and political critic Mohammed Amr on Tuesday, April 19, 2022, without presenting a legal arrest warrant. .Children were also not spared from arbitrary arrest. Shaddad Amro from Hebron, 17 years old, is still being held by the intelligence service without being brought before any legal body, in clear violation of the rules of criminal trials, and the 16-year-old child Izz al-Din Shakhshir from Nablus is in custody. Political arrest and accusation!While universities are approaching the elections of their student councils, the democratic electoral atmosphere in which the Palestinian arena celebrates, the security services are pursuing union work by arresting university students for their student activity inside the university corridors, the last of whom was the student Baraa Ghazal from Hebron University, who was arrested on Sunday, April 17, 2022, On the background of his student work.Meanwhile, Lawyers for Justice continues to arrest school teacher Ahmed Abu Fara for the fifth consecutive day on a political charge, and the Hebron Magistrate’s Court has issued an extension against him for 7 days pending investigation, and Youssef Kamil from Jenin, whose detention has been ongoing since March 31, 2022, and he received two extensions, the last one was for 15 days on April 17, 2022, on a political charge.Violation of public freedoms is not the only title in the series of violations but rather exceeded them to violations of legal procedures, such as not presenting the legal arrest warrant during the arrest process, and attaching charges that were not related to the investigation’s progress, but rather in order to obtain an extension decision from the court judge.The Lawyers for Justice is following with concern these continuous violations of basic human freedoms, which coincide with allegations of torture and ill-treatment that political detainees say they were subjected to during their detention at the security apparatus in cell conditions unfit for human life.Lawyers for Justice calls for immediate and rapid action to put an end to these violations, and protect human rights defenders and activists and renews its call for the immediate release of political detainees and human rights defenders
Extending the detention of political critic Mohammed Amr for 24 hours
After the security forces fired live bullets and used weapons during his arrest, the Public Prosecution extended the detention of activist and political critic Mohammad Amr from Dura in Hebron for 24 hours, with allegations against him of “resisting security men.” At the same time, the security forces released his son, Shaddad Amr, without presenting him to the court. That is, in detention pending by the agency for more than 24 hours, in violation of the rules of a criminal trial, legal procedures, and fair trial guarantees. Lawyers for Justice renews its call for the immediate release of Mohammed Amr, ensuring his safety and health, and holding those responsible for using weapons and firing live bullets at his home to account.
Hebron University student Baraa Ghazal was arrested twice in 20 days
Within 20 days, the security forces arrested the student at Hebron University, Baraa Ghazal, twice, on the grounds of his student activity at the university, which is his right guaranteed constitutionally and academically. Going back, on March 24, 2022, from the Bab al-Zawiya area in the city of Hebron, the Preventive Security forces arrested Baraa Ghazal and two of his fellows without presenting any legal arrest warrant, and without any clear legal justification.Again, at dawn today, Sunday, April 17, 2022, the Intelligence forces re-arrested Baraa Ghazal from his home in the city of Hebron, with no legal justification being clear until now. The Lawyers for Justice group holds the General Intelligence forces responsible for the security and safety of student Baraa Ghazal, and the group holds the Preventive Security and Intelligence forces responsible for any disadvantage that will occur to the student’s academic career, which prevents repeated detention from proceeding normally. A Lawyers for Justice issued an urgent appeal to the Attorney General for the immediate release of student Ghazal, and the need to take a serious stand against the prosecution and arrest of university students against the background of their student activities, which is their right.
Lawyers for Justice weekly report – last week of January
On Sunday, January 23, 2022, the Magistrate Court in Nablus issued a decision to release Ahmed Yamin, Ahmed Dweikat, Ibrahim Shatara, and Muhammad Hussein on a cash bail of 200 and a personal guarantee of 3000 dinars. -On Monday, January 24, 2022, the Magistrate’s Court in Nablus issued a decision to release Musab Hanaisheh on bail of 2,000 Jordanian dinars. On Monday, January 24, 2022, the Magistrate’s Court in Nablus issued a decision to release Imad Khatatbeh on personal bail. On Monday, January 24, 2022, the Magistrate’s Court in Nablus issued a decision to release Ziad Al-Kilani, Raed Shawar, Osama Najm, and Ahmed Qutait on a personal bail of 5000 dinars. On Tuesday, January 25, 2022, the Ramallah Magistrate’s Court issued a decision to release Zuhdi Dannoun on a personal bail of 2,000 Jordanian dinars. Lawyers for Justice group is pursuing the arrest of Muhammad Nihad Abu Al-Aish from Qalqilya, who was arrested after being summoned for an interview on January 16, 2022.