Update January 4, 2009: HCJ Criticizes Israeli Security Detainee Law
On 4 January 2009, an expanded High Court of Justice panel of 9 justices and presided over by Chief Justice Dorit Beinisch held a hearing on the constitutionality of the Criminal Procedure (Detainees Suspected of Security Offenses) Law (Temporary Order). This followed the petition submitted in March 2008 by The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), the Public Committee against Torture in Israel (PCATI), and Adalah which demanded that the court annul the law, which blatantly violates the basic rights of detainees suspected of committing security offenses.
During the hearing, which lasted for approximately five hours, the justices criticized various aspects of the law which allows individuals suspected of committing security offenses to be held for 21 days with no judicial oversight, except for one appearance before a judge, and that only after 96 hours of detention and interrogation, to have their detention extended in their absence, and not to be given information on the extension of their detention.
The State argued that it has secret materials that provide explanations for why such a law is necessary and motioned to present these materials to the court ex parte, in the petitioners’ absence. The petitioners opposed this, arguing that the materials in question relate to the central question of the constitutionality of the law, and that the purpose of the law, especially a law such as this which violates detainees’ rights, must be made public.
No ruling was issued and no decision was made regarding additional hearings.
Press Release: January 1, 2009
On Sunday, January 4, the High Court, sitting in an extended panel of 9 justices, will discuss the petition submitted by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, the Public Committee against Torture, and Adalah which calls for the revocation of the Criminal Procedure (Detainees Suspected of Security Offenses) Law (Temporary Order), which infringes on the rights of suspects in detentions.
This law sanctions the long-term detention of suspects without judicial review, and enables legal ruling on their case in their absence, and the withholding of information from suspects regarding their continued detention. The three organizations warn that the law constitutes a dangerous deterioration in the protection of due process rights in Israel and could facilitate grave violations of human rights under the auspices of Israeli democracy.
The petition against the Criminal Procedure Law was submitted by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, the Public Committee against Torture, and Adalah against the Minister of Justice, the police and the General Security Services (GSS). The petition will be heard by an extended panel of 9 justices, in light of the weighty constitutional significance of this issue.
The law enables the detention of suspects for 96 hours without judicial review (compared to 24 hours, or up to 48 hours in certain cases, in relation to other detainees in Israel); the prolongation of detention in the absence of the suspect who is thus unable to defend himself or herself; and the withholding of information from the suspect regarding the decision to prolong or shorten the period of detention. The organizations warn that if the law is not revoked, individuals will continue to be deprived of freedom without judicial review in the first stage, and in the second stage without being heard or seen and without effective defense. The organizations also warn that this law provides dangerous opportunities for the abuse of detainees.
The Criminal Procedure Law 2006 was legislated in the Knesset as a “temporary” provision for a year-and-a-half but in December 2007 was extended for another three years. The Ministry of Justice now intends to make it a permanent law.
The rights violations inherent in the law are the latest in a series of other violations of the rights of detainees suspected of security crimes permitted in Israel, including the denial of a meeting with a lawyer for 21 days and the prohibition on visual or oral documentation of interrogations. The cumulative result is that it is possible to detain an individual, deprive him of his freedom and interrogate him in a GSS installation for three weeks, wherein he is totally cut off from the outside world and is brought before a court on only one occasion. An individual in this situation does not receive a fair legal hearing. He has no way of presenting his arguments to the judge and is given no opportunity to complain about physical or psychological abuse during interrogation.
From the outset, this draft law has evoked strong objections on the part of many senior jurists in Israel, the Public Defender’s Office, a number of Israeli and international human rights organizations, academics, and public figures. Knesset members from different parties, the chairpersons of the Knesset Legal Committee and legal advisers of various legal bodies in the Knesset have also expressed their strong reservations regarding the implications of the law. All of them have expressed profound concern at the extent of the infringement of human rights entailed in the law, and its discriminatory nature.
The petition was submitted by Advocates Eliyahu Avram of the Public Committee against Torture, Lila Margalit of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel and Fatma Alaju of Adalah.
