Senior Hamas official Wasfi Qabha has said that the Palestinian prisoners administratively jailed by Israel intend to escalate their protest against their wanton detention after they have organized a boycott of Israeli military courts.
Different administrative detainees continue to boycott Israeli courts as a protest step they started 25 days ago to demand an end to the administrative detention policy against hundreds of prisoners.
In press remarks to the Palestinian Information Center (PIC) Qabha a former minister of prisoners’ affairs said the prisoners’ boycott of courts “pulled the rug from under the feet of Israel’s military courts which are intelligence tools used for holding mock trials in order to keep away Palestinian leaders and activists in its jails for indefinite periods under the pretext of secret files.”
He warned that the administrative detainees would escalate their protest against their arbitrary detention by going on open-ended hunger strike unless Israeli jailers responded positively to their demands.
The Israeli occupation army uses administrative detention against Palestinians without a charge or trial based on a “secret file” that neither the detainee nor his lawyer can have access to thus preventing them from creating an effective defense. This measure denies the detainee from his or her right to fair trial that is guaranteed by international law.
Palestinians are held under administrative detention orders for periods ranging from six months to six years or more.
The Israeli army usually resorts to administrative detention immediately after the arrest or when failing to present a list of charges against the detainee. It sometimes uses administrative detention orders against Palestinians immediately after they complete their sentences. In some cases administrative detention happens concurrently with the submission of a lawsuit against the detainee.
