Palestine/Israel: Former hunger-striking prisoner continues new strike in protest of re-detention

June 16, 2017

Palestinian prisoner and lawyer Muhammad Allan entered the eighth day of a hunger strike in Israeli jail on Thursday, in protest of his recent re-detention by Israeli forces, according to the al-Quds news website.

Al-Quds quoted the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society as saying that Allan launched his strike on June 8, the day he was detained from his home in the Nablus-area village of Einabus during a predawn raid, adding that a court session was held Thursday to extend Allan’s detention.Allan’s father, according to al-Quds, said an Israeli military court charged his son with “incitement” on Facebook, saying that that Israeli forces “have been after his son to detain him and take revenge on him since the day he was released last year from administrative detention.”

Allan was released from prison in November 2015 after a year-long stint in administrative detention — Israel’s widely-condemned policy of internment without charge or trial — during which time he endured a grueling 66-day hunger strike in protest of his detention.

Israeli forces detained at least 400 Palestinians in less than a year over social media activity, and 400 others were detained for the same reason by the Palestinian Authority through its widely condemned policy of security coordination with Israel, Israeli news daily Haaretz reported in April.

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https://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=777657

https://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=777544

Israel: Israeli Mafia Boss Arrested on Suspicion of Having Hand in Lawyer’s Murder

May 24, 2017

A prominent crime-syndicate figure was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of being involved in the 2008 assassination of attorney Yoram Hacham, who was killed by a car bomb in Tel Aviv.
Two other suspects were also arrested on Wednesday in connection with the investigation, whose details have been placed under a gag order. The Rishon Letzion Magistrate’s Court released for publication only that the investigation has recently been reopened following new evidence that has come to light.
In June 2015 crime boss Asi Abutbul was arrested on suspicion of being involved in the mafia-style execution, following information tying him and his brother Francois to the case. But the evidence was insufficient to proceed with the investigation, Abutbul was released and the police Lahav 433 unit, known as the “Israeli FBI,” stopped dealing with the case.

Hacham was a top lawyer who represented a number of underworld figures, including Abutbul, who was convicted in the last case in which Hacham represented him.

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http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.791754

https://newstral.com/en/article/en/1065902187/israeli-mafia-boss-arrested-on-suspicion-of-having-hand-in-lawyer-s-murder

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/23011

http://fr.timesofisrael.com/un-baron-de-la-mafia-israelienne-arrete-pour-le-meurtre-de-son-avocat-en-2008/ (FRANCAIS)

Israel: Israeli human rights lawyer in detention without defence or trial, a victim of judicial abuse

May 18, 2017

An Israeli human rights lawyer who for over seven years wrote to the United Nations requesting help for children and families damaged by Israeli judicial corruption is now himself a victim of illegal arrest and detention.

Zvi Zer’s impending trial in September this year will be a field day for public officials, including judges and social workers, who have been exposed by two bloggers and by Mr Zer.

On 27 February Israeli police carried out a wave of arrests of activists, some of whom were interrogated and subsequently detained, while others were put under house arrest and had limitations imposed on their use of the internet.

Of those who were detained, three were kept in detention – two bloggers and the human rights lawyer, Mr Zer, described in the Israeli mainstream media as “a cyber terror gang”. The initial flurry of media attention showed that, in the eyes of the elite, the prisoners were already guilty.

After 40 days of interrogations, 91 charges were lodged against the activists, who are accused of insulting public officials. Mr Zer faces 41 charges of conspiracy with the bloggers. The decision was made to hold the prisoners in detention until the end of proceedings – January 2018.

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http://www.redressonline.com/2017/05/israeli-human-rights-lawyer-in-detention-without-defence-or-trial-a-victim-of-judicial-abuse/

Palestine/Israel: CASE HISTORY: MOHAMMED KHATIB

May 3, 2017

On 7 May 2017, human rights defender, Mohammed Khatib, will appear before an Israeli Military Court after three and half years of lengthy court proceedings following his participation in peaceful demonstrations at Beit Il checkpoint, in the village of Bettin, on 7 March 2013. The human rights defender is facing three charges of entering a closed military zone, participating in an illegal demonstration, and disturbing the soldiers.

The upcoming military trial of the human rights defender will take place on 7 May 2017 in Ofer military court. According to Israeli and Palestinian human rights organisations, the conviction rate of Israeli military courts has ranged from ninety to ninety-nine percent in recent years.

Mohammed Khatib has previously been arrested and detained by Israeli forces on several occasions on account of his participation in peaceful demonstrations. On 20 January 2017, Israeli forces arrested Mohammed Khatib while he attended his colleagues’ military hearing for participation in a peaceful demonstration. He was held in Ofer prison for four days and was also accused of participating in an “illegal protest” against Israel’s illegal annexation of Palestinian land in Jerusalem. In 2014, he was detained for participating in a tree-planting project in Turmusaya. All these charges against the human rights defender are still pending and he is expected to have to stand trial for them in the future.

Front Line Defenders condemns the continued judicial harassment of human rights defender, Mohammed Khatib, as it believes it to be solely related to his legitimate and peaceful human rights activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Front Line Defenders further condemns the pattern of intimidation, harassment and prosecution of human rights defenders by the Israeli occupation forces.

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https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/case/case-history-mohammed-khatib

https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/case/mohammed-khatib-arrested

http://imemc.org/article/mohammad-al-khatib-nominated-for-front-line-defenders-award/

https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/official-christian-charity-tortured-israel-lawyer-says

Israel/Palestine: Israel sentences Palestinian lawyer with Israeli citizenship to more than 7 years in prison

April 27, 2017

A Palestinian lawyer with Israeli citizenship was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in Israeli prison on Thursday after being convicted in January for allegedly transferring messages between the Hamas movement and Palestinian prisoners being held in Israel prisons, according to Israeli media.

The laweyer, Muhammad Abed, from the Palestinian town of Biina in northern Israel, was also given a one year suspended sentence and was fined 50,000 shekels ($13,760), Israeli media reported.

Lawyers in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory who work with Palestinians imprisoned by Israel are especially vulnerable to being accused of illegal activities, as almost all Palestinian political groups are considered illegal by the Israeli government.

Palestinian prisoners affiliated with Hamas — considered a terrorist group by the Israeli government — are usually the most vulnerable to having their rights violated in Israeli prisons, particularly being denied family visits.

Shireen Issawi, a prominent Palestinian lawyer from the village of Issawiya in occupied East Jerusalem, was accused in 2014 along with her brother Medhat for being in contact with Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons and providing them with funds, which Israel considers “terrorism.”

Shireen and Medhat were also working with imprisoned Palestinians affiliated with Hamas in order to help them communicate with their families in the Palestinian territory.

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https://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=776710

http://www.timesofisrael.com/lawyer-jailed-for-7-5-years-for-serving-as-hamas-agent/

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4954750,00.html

Israel: UN MILITANT ET UN AVOCAT PALESTINIENS ARRÊTÉS SUITE À UNE MANIFESTATION PACIFIQUE

le 16 décembre, 2016

SIGNER EN LIGNE

Les résidents et militants palestiniens de la ville d’Hébron, en Cisjordanie occupée, ont organisé une marche de protestation pacifique le 26 février 2016 pour marquer le 22e anniversaire de la fermeture de la rue Al-Shuhada et dénoncer la mise en place de mesures discriminatoires limitant les déplacements des Palestiniens dans la ville.

Pendant la manifestation, les forces israéliennes ont jeté des bombes sonores et tiré des gaz lacrymogènes sur les manifestants. L’avocat palestinien Farid al-Atrash a été arrêté et présenté à un tribunal militaire. Les forces israéliennes l’ont accusé d’avoir participé à une manifestation illégale et d’avoir attaqué des soldats, ce que contredisent des images vidéo de l’arrestation. Farid al-Atrash était en effet debout et tenait pacifiquement une affiche lorsqu’il a été poussé et violemment arrêté par les forces israéliennes.

Le 29 février, Issa Amro, coordinateur du groupe « Jeunesse contre les colonies » a également été arrêté par la police israélienne pour son rôle dans la manifestation du 26 février. Le 7 juin, il a été accusé de 18 chefs d’accusation différents alors que certaines accusations remontent à 2010. Issa Amro dément l’ensemble des accusations et allègue qu’il a été battu à deux reprises par la police israélienne lorsqu’il était en détention. Il a également été menacé et harcelé par l’armée, la police et les colons israéliens.

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https://www.amnesty.be/je-veux-agir/agir-en-ligne/signer-en-ligne/article/un-militant-et-un-avocat-palestiniens-arretes-suite-a-une-manifestation

Iran/Kenya/Israel: Iranian Lawyers Released, Return Home from Kenya

December 15, 2016

Two Iranian lawyers who had been arrested in Kenya “because of a misunderstanding” have been released and returned home on Thursday, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi said.

After serious diplomatic interaction with Kenya, the misunderstanding was cleared up and the two Iranian citizens were released on Wednesday night, Qassemi said on Thursday, noting that the lawyers arrived in Iran this morning.

According to the spokesman, Iran launched serious efforts, employed a team of prominent local jurists and also dispatched a diplomatic delegation to the East African country to secure the release of the two lawyers.

He also thanked the Kenyan government and judicial authorities for their sincere cooperation on the issue.

Earlier this month, Qassemi said the two lawyers had gone to Kenya to provide their Iranian clients jailed in Kenya with legal counseling, but were arrested by police when they were returning from a meeting with the prisoners.

The two Iranians and their Kenyan driver “were found taking video clips of the Israeli embassy,” according to a charge sheet produced in court, media reports said.

The three men were in a car belonging to the Iranian embassy when they were arrested on November 29.

 

https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2016/12/15/1268847/iranian-lawyers-released-return-home-from-kenya