PA prevents judges from protesting in West Bank

Palestinian Authority (PA) security services yesterday prevented judges and lawyers from holding a protest calling for the independence of the Palestinian judiciary, Anadolu reported.

The protest was due to take place in front of the High Judicial Council headquarters in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah.

Judge Ahmed Al-Ashqar said: “The Palestinian security place military barricaded and prevented the judges from reaching the High Judicial Council headquarters.”

“This is an illegal act… We only wanted to send a message to the [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas.”

He said that the judges call for Abbas to dissolve the transitional High Judicial Council and forming a new “permanent” council. They are also calling for cancelling the decision of the High Judicial Council to designate judges to work in the PA institutions and for cancelling the decisions that arbitrarily prevent the promotion of judges.

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The judges, according to Al-Ashqar, reject enacting laws for compulsory retirement for judges.

For its part, the High Judicial Council said that it did not request the presence of the security forces, adding that security forces acted on their own and prevented judges who were working from accessing the building.

In July 2019, Abbas dissolved the High Judicial Council for political reasons and formed a transitional body for only one year. One year later he extended its mandate for another six months.