Lawyers for Justice documents a violation against the human rights of a political prisoner
Lawyers for Justice group documented grave human rights violations that activist “N.ِA” was subjected to during his arrest during the twenty days of his political detention.Although the court issued a decision to release him, it was not implemented, and his detention continued in a narrow and unclean cell without the minimum necessities of life. Moreover, he was exposed to verbal abuse, hanging, and sleep deprivation. The interrogators also tried to wage a psychological war on him by using phrases suggesting that they did not intend to release him.They prevented his family and lawyer from visiting him, and he was interrogated almost daily without any legal basis. And without respecting the detainee and dealing with him following human rights agreements to which Palestine is a party.Therefore, the group of Lawyers for Justice calls for an immediate investigation into the conditions of political prisons and the urgent release of all political detainees and ensures their protection and safety. It also appeals to the Attorney General to urgently enforce the law about the implementation of the release decisions issued by the Palestinian judiciary.
Lawyers for Justice demands revealing the fate of political detainee Musa Nazzal
Today, Monday, December 13, 2021, a group of Lawyers for Justice went to the headquarters of the General Intelligence in the city of Qalqilya to proceed with the authorization procedures for the political detainee, Musa Nazzal Al-Sawy. The intelligence informed the group that the Security Committee apprehended the detainee and refused to complete the attorney procedures or allow a visit on the pretext that it “needs approval from the Security Committee”; to do that, the group has to go to National Security Command where the detainee is, as they said.Subsequently, the group headed to the National Security to inquire about the detainee, but the national security denied having him. They even indicated that the general intelligence detained him. This prompted the group to go to the Public Prosecution and inquire about the file of Musa Nazzal. They were surprised that there is no file for his case with the Public Prosecution Office, and he is being held for the seventh consecutive day arbitrarily and illegally.Within this framework, several human rights organizations intervened to find out where “Al-Sawy” is detained, but we have not received any response until now.Therefore, Lawyers for Justice confirms that they will take all necessary legal measures to reveal the fate of Musa Nazzal and his place of detention. They also stress that Nazzal is detained in violation of fair trial guarantees.The group launches an urgent appeal to the Attorney General for immediate intervention to reveal his fate, ensure his safety, and release him immediately.
More than 200 arrests and detentions since May 2021
The escalation of arrest campaigns carried out by the security services in the occupied West Bank governorates since the beginning of last October reflects the deterioration of the human rights situation in Palestine. The group has documented dozens of arrests of citizens and activists on various backgrounds because of their political affiliation or the exercise of freedom of opinion and expression.While the number of detainees, between those arrested or released since mid-May last, has so far exceeded nearly two hundred arrests;these numbers are the worst in years in the human rights record in the Palestinian Authority security-controlled areas. The group’s documentation indicates that most of these arrests were without presenting an arrest or search warrant issued by the competent authorities represented by the Public Prosecution Authority. Once these arrests are carried out, the procedures for legalizing them will begin with competent prosecutions. This is to provide more space that allows the investigative authorities of the security services to take over the powers of the Public Prosecution Office. And to prolong detention periods which have often become a tool of punishment in the hands of the security services against political and opinion activists.The group also observed unjustified violent behavior often practiced against activists during arrest, along with force and miss-treatment.Lawyers for Justice warns against the continuation of these illegal campaigns and stresses that the Public Prosecution office must take a strict stance towards these behaviors that gives a discourse that justifies these grave violations of the human rights situation, it also calls for the immediate release of all detainees and the closure of political detention prisons.
A statement issued by Lawyers for Justice about the suppression of freedom of political action in the city of Bethlehem
A Lawyers for Justice group followed the photos and clips from the funeral of the martyr Amjad Abu Sultan in Bethlehem, where security individuals in civilian clothes appeared to suppress the funeral participants from different political parties.The group monitored the security forces’ practice of suppressing freedom of political action, which violates Article (26) of the Palestinian Basic Law. That states that Palestinians have the right to participate in political life either individually or as groups. They also have the right to hold private meetings without the presence of police personnel and hold public meetings and processions Gatherings within the limits of the law.In addition, suppressing the freedom of political action, lowering the banners of Palestinian factions and parties, insulting them, and assaulting their advocates is inconsistent with Presidential Decree No. (5) of 2021. That stipulates in Article (1) the enforcement of environments of public freedoms in all the territories of the State of Palestine, including the freedom of political and national action, in accordance with the provisions of the Basic Law and relevant laws.Accordingly, Lawyers for Justice condemns the suppression of freedoms, the prosecution of activists and citizens on the basis of their political affiliation, and renews the call to guarantee freedom of opinion and expression, and guarantee freedom of political affiliation, work, and political participation guaranteed by the Basic Law and human rights agreements to which Palestine is a party.
Activist Mohammad Balaawe
Lawyers for Justice; we were expecting the announcement of activist Mohammad Balaawe innocence, which he has been arrested by “Preventive Security Service” with being interrogated, and extended his detention, as well as referred his case to the competent court on remand for 10 days with set of charges such as, slanderous against Palestinian Authority, Inciting racial hatred. Afterwards, A decision was issued on this day to imprison him for three months before the imprisonment was replaced with a fine, and before he had a chance to meet with a defense lawyer. Indeed, Lawyers for Justice look to this decisions suspicionly since activist Mohammad Balaawe is young and all charges that he has been accused with, dosen’t fit with Freedom of Opinion and Expression. Furthermore, We think as Lawyers that those charges Do not constitute any crimes which requset punishments since Freedom of Opinion and Expression are quaranteed by Palestinian Basic Law.
The Palestinian labors Inside the Green line, in the face of death
Position paper emanating from Lawyers For Justice Based on the declaration of a state of emergency in the occupying Power(Israel), especially after the increase in the number of cases of Corona Kovid virus (19), the Palestinian workers found themselves obliged to choose between staying at home for their safety or keep their living. Thousands of the Palestinian labor have been asked by the Palestinian prime minister to arrange their priorities within a maximum of three days before preventing the movement between the Palestinian territories and Israel, and owing to their economic conditions they choose to work . The forced movement of the labors it has an impact on them health, dignity and to them labor rights. According to these remarkable issues Lawyers for Justice decide to highlight the framework of Israelis laws and the international references. The geographic move of labors from Palestine to Israel applies to the articles of The International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families which should be implemented in parallel with other international references, including the basic United Nations human rights instruments, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenants – the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and political Rights – and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination; Conclusion of the Fourth Geneva Convention on the Protection of civilian Persons; These international references have given migrant workers from one region to another rights based on equality between them and what governments in these regions harness to their workers and it’s also recommend to take several prevention procedures especially during emergency cases such as epidemiological. Under the current situation of declaration of emergency in Israel the pillars of labor market it have an obligation to implement the international references recommendations, as they constitute the minimum rights. Here, lawyers for justice mention that the declaration of a state of emergency and the outbreak of the epidemic do not give employers any powers or justifications to prejudice the workers ’rights of the Palestinian worker, whether it concerns wages, working hours, vacations, personal safety controls, insurance, In the case that the situation imposes exceptional limits on these rights, the human dignity of workers must be preserved, and must take into account the guarantees contained in the body of the Fourth Geneva Convention on the Protection of Civilian – workers coming from an occupied territory – including take the necessary measures to preserve their physical and psychological needs arising from the direct and none direct effects to declare a state of emergency, whether by the regular authorities or individuals or groups of citizens of the occupying power, especially that the Palestinian workers will be forcibly resided in inappropriate living conditions that obliged the authorities of the state to tackle intervention procedures in particular the authority of the population and migration, the Ministry of Economy, Labor, and the Ministries of Health and Interior, to provide temporary living environment for decent where the human dignity of workers respected and safeguarded their rights. Scrutiny, we find that the Israeli labor law organized foreign employment, and gave them equal rights for their nationals, but successive Israeli authorities imposed a systematic living condition on the Palestinian worker that forced them to emigrate to work within the green line, with rights that are not consistent with those guaranteed by domestic legislation; as we mentioned above, the declare a state of emergency provides a fertile environment for employers to violate the rights of this category, bearing in mind that the Israeli Emergency Law of the year (2006) and its amendments gave the political and military leadership in Israel the authority to Adopt fair labor policies and procedures. However, the disparity of political power, especially in the context of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict left Thousands of Palestinian workers out of the benefits of these measures. It is important to mention that the International Labor Organization lunching a specialized study for examination, the impact of Corona Kovid virus (19) on the workforce and its rights which is stamped by adopting three labor policies to face the consequences and effects of this situation. Lawyers for Justice high recommend the Palestinian government to provide the families of the workers with the basic needs to enhance their sense of human security and dignity, and emphasizes that the violation of labor rights constitutes a violation that requires domestic and international civil and criminal prosecution Therefore, by paying attention to the international tools mentioned in these references, including the protocol for individual complaints, lawyers for justice team will provide representation and legal assistance services for each worker who violated his legitimate rights or lived in conditions that diminished his human dignity while he was at his workplace in the occupied interior, to prevent damage Has caught up with him, and we also appeal to all partners to intensify efforts to monitor and document what violations of this category may face.
Alaa Hmaidan
Lawyers for Justice group has followed with concern the arrest of the community activist Alaa Hmaidan, owner of the “Knights of the Great Dawn” initiative, which aims to enhance the resilience of citizens in several areas by going to pray dawn.Alaa hmidan was arrested by the Preventive Security Service in Nablus on 2/22020 because of his community activities, where he was presented on 3/22020 for investigation in the Public Prosecution offices in Nablus on charges of collecting and receiving funds from illegal associations which is a political charge that the prosecution used the general public directed its political detainees and human rights defenders in Palestine. Ala denied the charge against him, and his detention was extended for 48 hours.On 5/2/2020 Lawyers for Justice, Ala Hmaidan, was arrested before the Nablus Magistrate’s Court and his detention was extended for 5 days in order to give the Public Prosecution an opportunity to build an investigative file.Lawyers for justice filed the following day with a request to release Alaa on bail, but the request was rejected for the same purpose (the investigation).Lawyers for Justice are launching an urgent appeal for the release of activist human rights defender Alaa Hmaidan, owner of the initiative (Knights of the Great Dawn), and the group is very concerned about the use of political charges by activists and human rights defenders for the purposes of arresting and interrogating them with project activities that fall under freedom of work Human rights and freedom of opinion and expression.Lawyers for Justice group are calling the local and international human rights organizations and the media to follow up on this case, thus demand that the Palestinian Authority stop the trial of the detained activist Alaa Hmaidan and release him freely.
The 20th trial of Dr. Adel Samara will be held on Wednesday
The Ramallah Magistrate Court will hold the 20th session of Dr. Adel Samara on Wednesday, November 27, 2019 at 9:00 am, more witnesses will be heard to defense Dr. Samara, after the prosecution has finished his evidence in the last sessions, lawyers for justice has been represents and following Dr. Samara’s case since its inception. The trial of Dr. Samara started after he was summoned on 29 June 2016, and interrogated on the basis of a complaint filed by “A.M”, the complaint was because Samara wrote a statement denouncing a contradictory normalization paper; signed by Palestinian factions entitled “Call and cry from the depths”, calling for the establishment of a state with the settlers. It was not Dr. Adel Samara who wrote and published the statement that included the plaintiff’s name; also the statement was signed by hundreds of Arabs, knowing that he does not hide his opinion against normalization. The Magistrate’s Court had indicted Dr. Adel for “threatening or insulting by telephone” in violation of Article 91a of the Wireless Telecommunications Law No. 3 of 1996. Mentioning that Dr. Samara was born in 1944, holds a PhD in Political Economy and Development from the Universities of London and Exeter in Britain, plus he has 30 books in Arabic and English, some of which have been translated into French and written about economics, nationalism, women, development and socialism, and has published many researches and articles, he was arrested in 1963 and 1965 in Jordan for two and a half years, on the grounds of membership of the movement of Arab nationalists – heroes of return, in 1967 he was arrested by the occupation for five years on the back of his membership in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and another five months in 1979 against the background of his previous membership, and for a month by the Palestinian Authority for signing and publishing a statement of” twenty” against corruption, Samara worked as an economic advisor and journalist in more than one international economic institution. He accompanied the martyr Naji al-Ali in London and left after his assassination.
Statement by Lawyers for Justice regarding the deportation of activist Omar Shaker
Following the decision of the Israeli Interior Minister to deport human rights activist and defender Omar Shaker, the director of Human Rights Watch’s office in Palestine, Lawyers for Justice strongly condemns the deportation decision and the subsequent endorsement of it by the Israeli District Court of Jerusalem. This is an integral part of the policy of deportation practiced by the Israeli occupation authorities against anyone who carries a humanitarian and moral message towards the reality of which Palestinians are subjected to continuously by the ongoing occupation that has lasted for more than seventy years. The group considers the deportation decision, which was upheld by the Israeli Supreme Court in occupied Jerusalem on backgrounds of what the Minister of Interior of the occupation government described as hostile activity, in light of Shaker’s activity as a human rights activist and defender in the occupied territories. Lawyer for justice considers this act a continuation of a long-existing policy of legalization and legitimization of the occupation as well as authorization to the Israeli Army to wipe out any humanitarian message or anti-occupation human rights speech, and eradicate any call to end the occupation which has long been and continues to be a burden on the people of the free world. Lawyers for Justice, therefore, calls on all activists, human rights defenders and freedom activists to continue to carry out their humanitarian mission and their human rights activities to end the occupation and achieve freedom. The group urges to intensify messages of solidarity and provide moral support to the activist Omar Shaker and all defenders, liberals, and activists for freedom and for the respect for human rights.
Lawyers for Justice “follows with concern the allegations of torture and miss-treatment reported by the detainee Mohammed Zahran” by the Public Prosecution
Lawyers for justice followed up with Mohammed Zahran’s case on Tuesday, whom is a detainee for the GID in Ramallah, since Monday 18/11/2019 Mohammed Ibrahim Mohammed Zahran, from Deir Abu Mish’al town, Ramallah’s district, a prisoner of liberation who spent three years in Israeli jails, Zahran works in the Anti-Corruption Commission, where attorney Muhannad Karajeh attended yesterday’s prosecution session held for Zahran at about 1:30 pm. “Lawyers for justice” worried about all the allegations of torture and miss-treatment raised by Zahran before the prosecution and documented in his reports, that he was tortured for more than 45 minutes, Zahran said yesterday that his hands were handcuffed, “his hands were placed behind his back, the handcuffs were tied to a rope and hung from the ceiling, this terrible mistreatment continued over 45 minutes, Zahran confirmed that they stripped off his clothes and kept him with a blouse while the weather was very cold, and then transferred him to a spot called “refrigerator” area which does not exceed one meter in length and meters across, and does not contain a mattress, which he could not sleep in it all night last night, plus he was not allowed to go to the bathroom. The Public Prosecution noted yesterday that Zahran had redness spots on his hands and decided to arrest him for 48 hours, but to show up again to the Public Prosecution on Thursday. Prosecutors accuse Zahran of collecting and receiving illegal money from illegal parties and the court released him with 200 dinars of bail, later the file was closed without conviction, and “Lawyers for Justice” group asserts that prosecuting the person on the same charge twice which is illegal. “Lawyers for Justice” considers this statement to be a communication to the Attorney General to open an investigation into the allegations of torture and miss-treatment reported by Zahran before the prosecution, In compliance with the international agreements and treaties against torture and miss-treatment signed by the State of Palestine.