Israel reinstates administrative detention for Palestinian rights activist

Israeli authorities have reinstated an administrative detention order for Palestinian human rights defender Salah Hamouri, after the Israeli Supreme Court accepted the prosecution’s appeal.

Hamouri, who works for Palestinians prisoner rights group Addameer as a field researcher, is a Palestinian-French dual national and a former prisoner in Israeli jails.

A six-month administrative detention order was first issued for the prisoners’ rights activist on 23 August, but on the day of its confirmation hearing, the court instead decided to make Hamouri complete the remaining time on a previous sentence.

Hamouri was released in a 2011 prisoner exchange, with three months left to serve.

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The judge’s decision was appealed by the Israeli prosecution, and on 13 September, the Israeli High Court ruled in favour of the prosecutor’s appeal, ordering Hamouri to be placed under administrative detention for six months. A new confirmation hearing is set for Sunday.

In a statement released yesterday, Addameer “strongly” condemned the court’s decision, which it described as “part of a systematic policy of detaining human rights defenders, politicians, activists and civil society leaders under administrative detention, with no charge or trial”.

Addameer reiterated “its call for Hamouri’s immediate release, as his detention constitutes an attack on Palestinian human rights defenders”.