Israel issues 25 administrative detention orders in just 2 weeks

The Israeli authorities have issued 25 administrative detention orders against Palestinians over the past two weeks, the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society said on Wednesday.

The orders are for periods ranging from 3 to 6 months and cover three new prisoners. Those detained come from most of the major cities in the occupied West Bank: Jerusalem, Ramallah, Hebron, Tulkarem, Jenin, Bethlehem, Nablus and Qalqiliya.

Under administrative detention, prisoners are held without charge nor given a trial for up to six months on the basis of secret evidence. Each order can be (and usually is) renewed indefinitely by Israel’s military courts.

Amnesty International has condemned administrative detention repeatedly as “arbitrary” and pointed out that it is used as a “political weapon, and a means to deter and intimidate Palestinian political activists, parliamentarians and academics.”