The Fatah member of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) Najat Abu Bakr said on Wednesday that the Palestinian Authority (PA) police prevented her from travelling abroad at al-Karama crossing between the Palestinian territories and Jordan.
Abu Bakr said that Palestinian security officers informed her about the travel ban issued against her and prevented her from leaving al-Karama crossing to Jordan from which she had intended to travel to the Lebanese capital Beirut.
The Palestinian MP affirmed that this travel ban deprives her of assuming her duties toward her people and country noting that she will appeal against the decision at the Palestinian High Court.
She pointed out that her travel to Beirut “was to attend a ceremony honoring her as the best MP adopting societal issues an award given each year to a member of parliament in a certain country.”
The legal advisor of the PA president Hasan al-Aouri confirmed earlier lifting the parliamentary immunity of five of the Fatah MPs including Najat Abu Bakr.
The decision received angry reactions in the political and legal circles and was described as “dangerous” by a number of human rights organizations who said that it paves the way for the collapse of the Palestinian political system. A group of Palestinian parliamentarians stressed that president Mahmoud Abbas “has no authority on the PLC.”
