The Council of the Palestinian Human Right Organisations (Al-Haq) criticised the decision of the Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas to revoking immunity of five parliamentarians, Quds Press reported on Wednesday.
In a statement reported by Quds Press, Al-Haq warned of the “collapse” of the Palestinian political institutions due to “evading the rule of the basic law, ignoring its principles and violating its sovereignty throughout failing to separate the different authorities.”
On Monday, Abbas’ legal advisor Hassan al-Oweri revealed to the media the decision to revoke the parliamentary immunity of five Members of Parliament (MPs) ahead of a criminal investigation.
Al-Haq said that the parliamentary immunity is one of the “most important principles and guarantees” guaranteed by the basic Palestinian law for elected MPs, noting that this immunity continues as long as there is a parliament.
“Abbas’ decision is an aggression on the popular will, which is the source of all authorities, as well as it is a violation of the basic law, which organises the work of the three authorities,” Al-Haq said.
Meanwhile, the statement also noted that parliamentary immunity is an “inalienable constitutional right,” adding that the Constitutional Court, which Abbas used to revoke this immunity, did not go through all the needed legal procedures to attain its power based on the basic Palestinian law.
All five MPs included in Abbas’ decision are from Fatah’s parliamentarian bloc. Parliament’s Deputy Speaker Ahmed Bahar, from the Hamas bloc, denounced Abbas’ decision, calling it a “violation of the Palestinian law.”