Lawyers for Justice Group followed up 8 court sessions for 33 activists and human rights defenders against their participation in the “Enough is enough” movement in 2020, and the demonstrations condemning the assassination of activist Nizar Banat. In addition to following up on a court session filed against activist Jihad Abdo for opinion and expression.
The group was able to obtain a verdict of acquittal for 11 activists who participated in the demonstrations condemning the assassination of the activist Girls in August 2021; they are (Ghassan Al-Saadi, Muhammad Abdo, Jihad Abdo, Abi Al-Abedawi, Mu’in Al-Barghouti, Imad Al-Barghouti, Youssef Sharqawi, Nayef Al-Hashlamoun, Ibrahim Abu Hijleh, Youssef Amr, Omar Safi).
On other hand, the group was able to obtain an acquittal for 4 activists who participated in the demonstrations condemning the assassination of activist Banat in August 2021; are (Mohammed Al-Attar, Khaldoun Bishara, Abdel Hamid Haroun, Ahmed Abu Nasser).
The court also postponed 4 sessions of activists who are prosecuted for their participation in the “Enough is enough” movement in 2020 to March 16, 2022, due to the absence of witnesses. For the same reason, a court session for activists participating in the demonstrations condemning the assassination of activist Banat, and a court session for activist Jihad Abdo, was postponed.
However, another court session for activists who participated in the demonstrations condemning the assassination of activist Banat was postponed to April 4, 2022, due to the absence of witnesses from the court.
Accordingly, while the Lawyers for Justice group celebrates obtaining acquittal decisions against 15 activists, it deprecates the continued absence of witnesses (members in the security services) from the courts, which leads to a prolongation of the litigation in violation of fair trial guarantees.
The group states that the activists are being prosecuted for their rights of opinion and expression guaranteed in the Palestinian Basic Law and human rights agreements to which Palestine is a party.