Photo by Tom RavivJerusalem District Court Judge Nava Ben-Or issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting the arrest of asylum seekers from Sudan. A hearing has been set for October 30, 2012.
On October 3, six Sudanese asylum seekers and six human rights organizations – the Clinic for Migrants’ Rights at the Academic Center of Law and Business, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), the Hotline for Migrant Workers, ASSAF – Aid Organization for Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Israel, the African Refugee Development Center (ADRC), and Kav La’Oved – filed a petition to the Jerusalem District Court seeking an injunction to prevent the Minister of the Interior Eli Yishai, from imprisoning Sudanese refugees. The court has granted a preliminary injunction, pending a court decision on the issue.
The petition, filed by Attorney Oded Feller of ACRI and Attorney Yonatan Berman of the Clinic for Migrant’s Rights, refers to a public announcement made by the Minister of the Interior in August of this year, in which he declared that Sudanese asylum seekers will have until October 15 to leave Israel, after which they will be arrested and detained. In interviews with the media, the Minister said that the purpose of these detentions would be to make the lives of the Sudanese asylum seekers unbearable.
The petition states that the Minister of the Interior’s policy would result in thousands of Sudanese asylum seekers along with their children being hunted down, arrested en masse, and detained indefinitely in extreme conditions in the desert. Included among these people are survivors of genocide in Darfur and atrocities in other areas. An additional consequence of the Minister of the Interior’s decision would be the annulment of the Sudanese asylum seekers’ temporary protection, which allowed them to be employed under certain limited conditions. Without such permits, those who manage to avoid arrest will have no means to procure food or shelter.
According to the petition, the detentions announced by the Minister of the Interior are arbitrary, since there is no legal or practical possibility of returning Sudanese citizens to their country. Moreover, the Minster of the Interior lacks the authority to issue these arrests under the Law to Prevent Infiltration, since this authority is granted under the law to the Minster of Defense and he has not delegated it to the Minister of the Interior. Finally, even if the Minister of the Interior had the authority to make the declaration as he did, his decision is not lawful because it is not designed for an appropriate purpose, because it is discriminatory, arbitrary, and unfair, and because the violation of fundamental rights caused by it are severe and potentially fatal.
Despite Minister of the Interior Eli Yishai’s public announcement that he will begin arresting Sudanese citizens beginning this Monday October 15, it was reported in recent days that the issue of the arrests was being more carefully examined in the Ministry of Justice.
ACRI Attorney Oded Feller: “The asylum requests of Sudanese citizens are not even checked, and in any event, it is not possible to deport them from Israel in a way that will safeguard their welfare. The decision to imprison asylum seekers from Sudan and their children for indefinite terms in extreme desert conditions is exceptionally cruel. Regrettably, the Prime Minster and Attorney General are not willing to restrain the Minister of the Interior, and therefore a petition must be brought to the court.”
To read the court order (in Hebrew) click here.
To read the full petition (in Hebrew) click here.
