Amnesty International: Israel uses administrative detention as political weapon

Amnesty International has condemned Israel’s use of administrative detention to imprison Palestinians and demanded Tel Aviv release all administrative detainees or give them a fair trial.

The organization expressed concern about the high number of administrative detainees in a statement on Sunday.

The statement read: “As is known, Israel generally uses administrative detention against the Palestinians, where it detains individuals without indictments for unspecified periods of time. The Israeli authorities refuse to reveal the charges against them, claiming that it is a secret which hampers the work of their lawyers.”

Amnesty’s Director of Human Rights Hilal Alloush said: “Administrative detention policy is arbitrary detention and is being used as a political weapon and a means to deter and intimidate Palestinian political activists, parliamentarians and academics.”

According to Israeli prison data, by the end of last year there were nearly 584 Palestinians imprisoned under administrative detention, including six minors.