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PALESTINIAN PARLIAMENTARIAN CHARGED the Israeli Military Brought 12 Charges Against Palestinian Parliamentarian Khalida Jarrar on 15 April

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PALESTINIAN PARLIAMENTARIAN CHARGED the Israeli Military Brought 12 Charges Against Palestinian Parliamentarian Khalida Jarrar on 15 April Further information on UA: 81/15 Index: MDE 15/1472/2015 Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories Date: 17 April 2015 URGENT ACTION PALESTINIAN PARLIAMENTARIAN CHARGED The Israeli military brought 12 charges against Palestinian parliamentarian Khalida Jarrar on 15 April. They will review her eligibility for bail on 29 April but she is also being held under a system allowing indefinite detention without charge which precludes release on remand. The review of Khalida Jarrar’s six-month administrative detention order was adjourned on 15 April until 8 May. The military prosecution brought charges against her including membership of an illegal organization, participation in protests and incitement to kidnap Israeli soldiers. Her defence team said there was no basis to the incitement charge, and that it was vindictive. In accordance with the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which Israel has ratified, any judge reviewing her detention on these charges should bear in mind that as a “general rule… persons awaiting trial shall [not] be detained in custody”. But, by holding her under administrative detention, the Israeli military prosecution is ensuring she can be held at least until the end of any trial proceedings. On 8 April when a review of her administrative detention was adjourned until 15 April, the military prosecution told the judge it had not charged her since it would make her eligible for bail. The Israeli military withholds most of its evidence against administrative detainees, claiming this is for security reasons. The Israeli authorities have subjected Khalida Jarrar to punitive measures for decades. In August 2014, she defied a military order transferring her from her home in Ramallah to Jericho. She is subject to an international travel ban and fought for months to travel abroad for diagnostic exams not available in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) in 2010. Evidence was never provided to her or her defence team that would justify these restrictions. In February 2015, she was selected to the Palestinian committee in preparation for a potential International Criminal Court investigation into crimes committed in the OPT. She was elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) in 2006 as a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a banned left-wing party which has an armed wing. She is vice chair of the Palestinian NGO Addameer which defends prisoners’ rights. Please write immediately in English, Hebrew or your own language: Calling on the Israeli authorities to lift the administrative detention order against Khalida Jarrar immediately and ensure that any hearing reviewing her detention meets international standards including the presumption of release prior to trial; Urging them to end the use of administrative detention. PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 29 MAY 2015 TO: Military Judge Advocate General Commander of the IDF – West Bank Minister of Defence Brigadier General Danny Efroni Major-General Roni Numa Moshe Ya’alon Hakirya, Tel Aviv, Israel GOC Central Command Ministry of Defence Fax: +972 3 569 4526 Military Post 01149, Battalion 877 Tel Aviv 61909, Israel Email: [email protected] Israel Defense Forces, Israel Email: [email protected] Salutation: Dear Judge Advocate Fax: +972 2 530 5741, +972 2 530 5724 [email protected] General Salutation: Dear Major-General Roni Fax: +972 3 691 6940 Numa Salutation: Dear Minister Also send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited to your country. Please insert local diplomatic addresses below: Name Address 1 Address 2 Address 3 Fax Fax number Email Email address Salutation Salutation Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date. This is the first update of UA 81/15. Further information: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/MDE15/1405/2015/en/ URGENT ACTION PALESTINIAN PARLIAMENTARIAN CHARGED ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Khalida Jarrar has been subjected to decades of harassment and intimidation by the Israeli authorities, who have repeatedly declared her a security risk. Until 15 April, they had never charged her with any criminal offence. Dozens of Israeli soldiers had surrounded her home in Ramallah at around 1am on 2 April. They searched it and confiscated two laptops and a mobile phone. They took her to an Israeli settlement, Beit El, and from there to an Israeli military base near Jaba’ in Jerusalem. At about 7.30am she was transferred to Ofer detention centre, near Ramallah, and interrogated, after which she was taken to HaSharon Prison in Israel. On 8 April, a review hearing of her detention order was adjourned for one week to allow her lawyers time to study the evidence against her. The prosecution’s file also contained secret evidence which neither she nor her lawyers have been permitted to see. On 15 April at a hearing to review her detention order at which the military judge could decide to uphold, shorten or lift the order, the military prosecution brought 12 charges against her in connection with PFLP membership. Simultaneously the military judge agreed to their request to keep her under administrative detention, adjourning the review until 8 May. Meanwhile, a review of her detention under the 12 charges will take place on 29 April. Her arrest and detention follows her appointment on 7 February 2015 to the Higher National Committee to Follow Up with the International Criminal Court (ICC), which was established on orders of Palestinian President Abbas after his government acceded to the Rome Statute of the ICC. In January 2015, Palestine submitted a declaration accepting ICC jurisdiction over crimes committed in the OPT since 13 June 2014, which includes the most recent Israel/Gaza conflict in July and August 2014, in which more than 1,500 Palestinian civilians were killed in Gaza and six civilians were killed in Israel. Israel retaliated against Palestine’s declaration, by suspending payments of tax revenues due to the Palestinian authorities of around US$127 million each month. Despite an Israeli announcement transferring some of the money due, the dispute between the Israeli and Palestinian authorities over the funds has continued. The head of the Israeli military’s Central Command gave Khalida Jarrar a six-month “Special Supervision Order” in August 2014, based on unspecified “serious security reasons that necessitate the… order to protect the security of the area”, requiring her to leave her home in Ramallah and confining her to Jericho unless she received “special permission” from the military authorities. No further details concerning the information against her were made available to enable her to challenge the decision judicially. She defied the order, establishing herself in the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) compound in Ramallah, where she remained until 16 September, when the order was reduced to one month. Khalida Jarrar has suffered a series of strokes and has high blood cholesterol; she needs medication and blood tests every few days for her condition. Administrative detention – ostensibly introduced as an exceptional measure to detain people who pose an extreme and imminent danger to security – has for years been used by Israel to detain a much wider range of people who should have been arrested, charged and tried in accordance with the normal laws of penal procedure, or against individuals who should not have been arrested at all. Orders can be renewed indefinitely and Amnesty International believes that some Palestinians held in administrative detention by Israel are prisoners of conscience, held solely for the non-violent exercise of their right to freedom of expression and association. Israel is holding some 14 PLC members, eight of them under administrative detention orders. The number of administrative detainees has increased significantly since May 2014. In February 2015, there were 424 Palestinians administrative detainees according to the Israeli NGO B’Tselem. Name: Khalida Jarrar Gender: f Further information on UA: 81/15 Index: MDE 15/1472/2015 Issue Date: 17 April 2015 .
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