The trial of the accused in assassination of the political activist Nizar Banat has been postponed
The military court in Ramallah has postponed the trial of the accused in assassination of the political activist Nizar Banat today morning, until June 20th, upon a previous request from the defendant’s attorney to postpone due to his sickness.
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.
“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