Photo CC by vectorportal.comIn response to the deteriorating condition of administrative detainee Hana Shalabi, thirty-five days into her hunger strike, Association for Civil Rights (ACRI) Executive Director, Hagai El-Ad, sent a letter today (21 March 2012) to Defense Minister Ehud Barak calling on him to intervene and either release Shalabi immediately or bring her to trial.
In recent years, at any given moment, hundreds of Palestinians are being held in administrative detention. According to B’Tselem’s figures, as of 31 January 2012, at least 309 Palestinians were being held in administrative detention.
In the letter, El-Ad stressed that administrative detention is a violation of human rights that requires a systematic change in policy. The widespread and routine use of administrative detention in Israel is in contravention of a basic value every democracy is committed to: the right of all persons to a fair trial, El-Ad wrote, adding:
“I ask you to act promptly – to stop the shameful practice of unrestrained use of administrative detention against the Palestinian population which is under Israeli military occupation.”
Administrative detention violates first and foremost the right to liberty and dignity. Although formally administrative detainees are brought before a judge, it cannot be said there is judicial review of detentions, since the vast majority of evidence on which the detentions are based is secret and hidden from the suspects and their attorneys. Suspects are therefore denied their rights to defend themselves and confront their accusers.
