“We want to live”!
The Lawyers for Justice group has followed the arrest of 11 persons by the Palestinians Security Forces in the city center of Hebron in 05/06/2022, then transported 8 of them to the security committee in Jericho, regarding their participation in a popular protest against extreme high living expenses of goods and services. After the arrest of those who are mentioned, the Security Forces have referred them to the security committee center in Jericho, then they brought them back to the general prosecution in Hebron, charged with roads sabotage and illegal gathering. The general prosecution had issued a decision to extend the arrest to 48 hours to complete the investigation while some of the accused refused to sign the interrogatory in the prosecution, as some of the arrested had declared they had permission to protest based on the law. Later on June, 6th, 2022 they have been all released. Accordingly; Lawyers for Justice confirms that the dispersal of any peaceful sit-in is an assault on a constitutional right, and a clear violation of the Palestinian Basic Law, which guarantees the public freedoms of citizens within the scope of the law. The group also emphasizes that the seriousness of these measures taken by the security services, which were covered by the Public Prosecution in Hebron, negatively affect citizens’ exercise of their constitutional rights and lead to people’s reluctance to use their constitutional rights they have by law for fear of repression and/or arrest.
A protest in front of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Ramallah to demand the release of Ammar Banat
A group of human rights organizations and activists sit-in today in front of the headquarters of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Ramallah, to demand for immediate release of Ammar Banat, one of the witnesses in the case of the assassination of the political critic Nizar Banat, who were arrested in May 19th, 2022. The statement as follows: An Invitation for immediate action A call to the Office of the High Commissioner of the United Nations of Human Rights in West Bank, and to all Human Rights organizations in Palestine; we do request for immediate intervene to release “Ammar Banat” who’s one of the main witnesses in the assassination NIZAR BANAT case, Ammar is detained arbitrary in PA prisons charged by shooting on one of the accused persons in Nizar Banat case. The continuous restrictions on Banat’s family, the way of continuing the arbitrary arrest is a major violation to the Human Rights system and a violation to the International Conventions that Palestine joined. We request all the Human Rights Organizations to do all the possible work to release Ammar Banat. Freedom to Ammar and Justice to Nizar! The popular Alliance for Change
The trial of the accused in the case of assassinations’ of Nizar Banat has been postponed
The military court in Ramallah today June 1st, has decided to postpone the trial of the accused in the case of assasenation of the political critic Nizar Banat to June 13th, June 2022, until the accused defendant’s attorney manages to bring the witnesses to the court. The defendant’s attorney refused to disclose their names, because of the incitement they are facing on social media, according to him.
The trial of the accused in the assassination of Nizar Banat case has been postponed
The trial of the accused in the case of assassination of the political activist Nizar Banat has been postponed this morning Sunday 29/05/2022, after the Military Prosecution has stated that they had received a letter from the Legal Department of Military Intelligence says; According to the failure to transporting the accused from their place of detention in Jericho Prison to the place of the trial, in the Special Military Court in Ramallah, due to the failure to complete the coordination procedures for their transportation due to the general conditions. Therefore, the court has decided based on what was stated by the Military Prosecution; Postponing the progress of the trial to Wednesday, 01/06/2022 at 10:00 am.
The trial of the accused in assassination of the political critic Nizar Banat has been postponed
The trial number 23d for the accused in assassination of the political activist Nizar Banat held yesterday in the military court in Ramallah, noting that he was killed in early morning of 24th, June 2021, after being beaten excessively by Palestinian Security Forces, with batons and pepper spray while he was asleep to arrest him for practicing his right to critisize and free speech earlier in his life. The trial held with attending of all the 14 accused in this case and the defense lawyer, in addition of group of local and international Human Rights organizations, with absence of the victim’s family and their lawyer, after they have declared boycotting the trial procedures for suspicion of the court integrity and seriousness, when they got news about the accused in this case receiving facilities, that would allow them to leave prison to spend time with their families without a judicial decision to release them. Lawyers for Justice group attended the trial in the context of its work in monitoring the trial procedures in this case, the group also observes in this report the main terms about what happened in the trial: The defendant’s attorney demanded to assign the Military Prosecution to offer rights to the accused in this case, like increasing the hours of the family visit, and offering other securities and rights they need. where the court replied that The Reform and Rehabilitation Law defined the controls for dealing with detainees, and the rights they have. The court has assigned the Military Prosecution to talk to the prison to ensure that the rights of the accused are provided in accordance of the law in this regard. The defendant’s attorney has requested from the court to talk to the Supreme Judicial Council and the General Prosecution represented by the General Attorney, to provide Military Court the criminal records for: Mohammad Majdi Mohammad Banat, Hussien Majdi Mohammad Banat, Imad Majdi Banat, and Mohammad Ismail Attieh Banat, in order to questioning the testimony of those mentioned before in front of the court in the case, the Military Prosecution objected to this request, then the court decided to reject the request of the defendants’ attorney in this regard, and asked the defendants’ attorney to bring the numbers of any criminal records in this regard. The defendants’ attorney has stated to the court that he could not bring the defense witnesses, because of the threats and defamation they were exposed to on social media, which made it impossible to bring them to testify in the court, because of their fear of those threats. The court responded to this allegation; Assigning the defendants’ attorney to submit an official letter to the court stating the names of the defense witnesses for the purpose of securing their coming to the court. At the end of the trial, the court decided to postpone it until 29/5/2022, pending on what was assigned to the defendants’ attorney.
On World Press Freedom Day, who gives the Palestinian journalists their rights?
The World Press Freedom Day comes this year, and the accusation of “defamation against the authority” is still an attempt by the security forces in the West Bank to pursue journalistic work, arrest them for practicing their journalistic work and exercising their right to express their opinion, even if it is in opposition to the policies of the Palestinian Authority. This day comes, and journalists Alaa Al-Rimawi, Anas Hawari, and Abdul Rahman Thaher are still in continuous court sessions that have been going on for more than a year against the background of their journalistic and media work, after the three faced arbitrary detention in the prisons of the security forces, some of them for several weeks, accusing them of doing what they had to do, from a journalistic standpoint, and with all professionalism. However, while it is more appropriate to study the possibility of granting journalists the right to practice their work freely, we are approaching the approval of the draft licensing system for media institutions, which grants the government wide powers that contradict the principle of media freedoms, increases the scope of authoritarian interference in journalistic work, and contradicts the law. The Palestinian Basic Law, especially Article 27 of it, emphasizes the freedom of the visual, audio, and written media, the freedom of printing, publishing, distribution, and broadcasting, the freedom of those working in them, and the prohibition of censorship of the media, so that it is not permissible to warn, stop, confiscate, cancel or impose restrictions on them except in accordance with the law. At the same time, Palestinian journalists are living a double reality full of violations practiced by the Israeli occupation against them, in light of the absence of 15 journalists behind its bars, attacks on journalists during their coverage, breaking of their press equipment, and banning them from traveling, in an attempt to prevent their word and to mute their voices. The attempts of the occupation’s violations against journalists did not stop at the geographical borders only but also extended to the digital space through its cooperation with the administrations of social networking sites to delete all content denouncing and condemning the occupation, exposing its crimes against the Palestinian people, and restricting the access of these accounts, and even deleting them totally often. In the midst of all this, we at Lawyers for Justice condemn any act or practice that limits the freedom of the journalist in his work and prevents him from exercising his profession in the manner guaranteed by the Palestinian Basic Law, and the agreements and treaties agreed upon by the international community, which granted the journalist’s voice immunity from Every pursuit
Urgent appeal for the release of the child Athal Al-Azza from the prisons of the Israeli occupation
Athal Al-Azzeh has not yet completed his 14th years old, when the Israeli occupation forces kidnaped him, robed his freedom and talent of music and arts, turn it into an urgent call for freedom from behind bars. On Friday, April 15, 2022, Athal was heading to Al’azzeh refugee camp in the city of Bethlehem to tell his grandmother: “come break your fast in our house”. When he coincidently ran into one of the most powerful army in the world, he was crossing the street to inter Azzeh camp where his grandmother live, when he was terrified, by the mass scene of armed soldiers kidnaping him, carrying him away from his childhood to nowhere, his screaming of leaving me alone, I did not do anything, did not move any human conscious inside the soldiers, brutally and arbitrary arrested him. At this time, Athal’s family had no idea of their son’s fate, until at later time the Palestinian military liaison office have informed them the terrible news “ your son athal, had been taken by the Israeli soldiers to unknown location.” His mother could not take it, the fear and sad was the master of the situation. Hours later, an Israeli investigator called from an anonymous number, telling the father “I am the interrogator for your son Athal, your son under interrogation at Ataroot interrogation center”, the father had the chance to talk with the child for two minutes on the phone before the phone get cut off. Athal is still detained until this moment, his fault that he was born to a Palestinian parents, with the traces of being beaten-up on his body during the arrest and interrogation, he walked into the court of Ofer where his father and mother saw on his nick and face the signs of torture that he was subjected to during his imprisonment.
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
Lawyers for Justice denounce labor day deduction for striking teachers
Alarmingly, the Ministry of Education issues a decision to deduct one working day for teachers who went on a partial strike in protest of the failure to pay their salaries in full, in a move that is a violation of their right to peaceful expression guaranteed in the Palestinian Basic Law. The peaceful strike is a form of expression that is guaranteed in the Palestinian Basic Law, specifically Article 19 of it, which states: “Freedom of opinion is not violated, and every person has the right to express and publish his opinion verbally, in writing, or other means of expression or art, subject to the provisions of Law.” Simply, Article (1) of Decree-Law No. (11) of 2017 guarantees the right to strike for civil servants, to demand their rights, or as an expression of their rejection of decisions and actions taken against them. Lawyers for Justice denounces the persistent attempts to harass teachers in their strike and seeks to single out the Palestinian teacher by assigning direct penalties to each teacher separately, because of their refusal decision, and the peaceful demand for rights. Lawyers for Justice calls on government agencies to protect the right of teachers to strike peacefully, to ensure that they follow their human rights demands, and to stress the importance of ensuring the protection and protection of public freedoms, and not committing any human rights violations or claimants
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.