Israel’s Ofer military court has issued administrative detention orders with no indictment or trial against dozens of Palestinian prisoners including a journalist since the start of November.
The Palestinian Prisoner Society (PPS) stated on Wednesday that the court issued 31 administrative detention orders against prisoners including journalist Mohamed al-Qiq between the 1st and 8th of February
According to a statement released by the PPS journalist Qiq has been on hunger strike for over three days in protest at his detention administratively with no guilt. He has been in jail since January 16.
These detention orders extend between three to six months and nine of them were issued against prisoners jailed for the first time or rejailed after releasing them.
An administrative detention is based on orders from the Israeli authorities or the army without an indictment or trial at a criminal court. The vast majority of detainees are residents of the occupied Palestinian territories.
People who are held under administrative detention often spend months or years in jail without receiving any information regarding their accusations.
In all cases evidence and legal material that supposedly justify the detention remain undisclosed due to security reasons and cannot be viewed by the detainee or his lawyer.
Around 530 Palestinians are held by Israel under administrative detention. Since administrative orders can be renewed for an unlimited number of times administrative detainees cannot know when they will be released. Even after the release former administrative detainees continue living with uncertainty not knowing if they will be arrested again.
