500 Palestinian prisoners held without trial or charge continued to boycott Israel’s military courts for the 29th day in protest against their illegal detention.
In an escalatory step the 500 administrative detainees began the new year (2022) by refusing to show up for their court sessions.
The boycott includes the initial hearings to uphold the administrative detention order as well as appeal hearings and later sessions at the Supreme Court.
Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners Affairs Authority said that the protest step came to raise awareness about the Israeli administrative detention policy that violates all international laws and norms.
Under the banner “Our decision is freedom … no to administrative detention” administrative detainees said in a statement their move comes as a continuation of long-standing Palestinian efforts “to put an end to the unjust administrative detention practiced against our people by the occupation authorities”.
They also noted that Israel’s use of the policy has expanded in recent years to include women children and elderly people.
Administrative detention is an Israeli policy that allows the indefinite detention of prisoners without trial or charge based on “secret evidence” that neither the detainee nor his/her lawyer is allowed to see. At least four Palestinian children are detained under such orders.
Human rights groups describe Israel’s use of the practice as “systematic and arbitrary” and as a form of collective punishment noting that its extensive use constitutes a violation of international law “particularly relating to internationally recognized principles of a fair trial.”
