Statement Issued by Lawyers for Justice
Regarding the Targeting of Samer Samara’s Family and the Killing of Children Ali and Rozan Samara from the Town of Tammun Lawyers for Justice is monitoring the killing of two children, Ali Samara (16) and Rozan Samara (4), from the town of Tammun. The deaths resulted from direct gunfire by members of a Palestinian security force targeting a civilian vehicle carrying women and children. This is according to the testimony of the detained citizen’s son during his father’s arrest and the statement issued by the Samara family. According to testimonies, a security unit in civilian clothing, traveling in civilian vehicles, opened fire without any prior warning or notice on a civilian vehicle carrying Mr. Samara and his family. This led to the death of the two children, varying injuries to other family members, and the arrest of the children’s father, Samer Samara, who is pursued by Israeli occupation forces and was also injured during the attack. The targeting of a civilian vehicle carrying women and children with lethal force constitutes a serious crime and a grave violation of the Right to Life. It cannot be justified under any security or political pretext. This crime occurs within an alarming context of gross violations committed by Palestinian security services in recent years, reaching a peak since the killing of political activist Nizar Banat. Human rights organizations and families have documented accusations from more than twenty families against the security services for involvement in the killing of their sons in similar incidents or as a result of torture. This indicates a dangerous pattern and methodology of using excessive and lethal force outside the framework of the law, amidst a total absence of effective accountability. Lawyers for Justice affirms that the Palestinian Authority, by acceding to international human rights treaties including the Convention against Torture and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) is legally bound to regulate the conduct of its members, respect human rights, prohibit torture and ill-treatment, and ensure accountability to prevent impunity. The persistence of a culture of impunity for perpetrators of these violations undermines the rule of law, fosters a culture of revenge and harassment of dissidents and activists, and threatens civil and social peace. Demands of Lawyers for Justice: The Right to Life is an inviolable right that may not be infringed upon under any pretext. Tolerance toward these crimes paves the way for their recurrence, threatens civil peace, and undermines what remains of trust in the justice system. Serious accountability is the only way to prevent the repetition of these violations and protect society from the cycle of violence and impunity. Our deepest condolences to the Samara family and the families of the victims. Lawyers for Justice Monday, February 16, 2026
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