JERUSALEM — Human rights group Amnesty International urged Israel on Friday to release or fairly try three Palestinian jailed for protesting against the West Bank separation barrier.
The three, two of whom are held without charges, may be "prisoners of conscience, held for legitimately voicing their opposition to the fence/wall," Amnesty said in a letter to Defence Minister Ehud Barak.
"These men have all been involved in campaigning against the building of this construction, much of it on the land of the occupied West Bank, and we fear that this is the real reason for their imprisonment," said Malcolm Smart, the director of Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa Programme.
"If this is the case they must be released immediately and unconditionally."
Jamal Juma, coordinator of the Stop the Wall campaign, has not been charged with any offence since his arrest on December 16 and has not had access to his lawyer.
He is held under Israeli military law, which applies to the occupied West Bank.
"As someone who holds a Jerusalem ID card, according to Israeli law his case should be handled under the country?s civil, not military, legal system," the London-based human rights watchdog said.
Mohammed Othman is also held without charge since September 22. He was arrested upon his return from Norway where he met activist groups and campaigned against the wall, Amnesty said.
Abdullah Abu Rahma, who heads Popular Committee Against the Wall in the West Bank village of Bilin, was arrested on December 10.
He has been charged with incitement, stone-throwing, and possession of arms, the latter for collecting spent cartridges and tear gas grenades used by Israeli forces to disperse anti-wall protesters.
"These three men are all well known for their defence of the human rights of Palestinians. In the unlikely event that there are genuine grounds to prosecute these men, they should be charged with recognisable criminal offences and brought promptly to trial in full conformity with international fair trial standards," said Smart.
Israel says the barrier helps prevent attacks against its citizens, Palestinians call it an "apartheid wall," and the international community say the parts built West Bank rather than along its border with Israel are illegal.
According to UN figures, Israel has so far completed 413 kilometres (256 miles) of its planned 709-kilometre (435-mile) barrier, a network of walls, barbed-wire fences, trenches, and closed military roads.
When completed, 85 percent of the wall will have been built inside the West Bank, leaving 9.5 percent of the territory and 35,000 Palestinians between the barrier and the Green Line.
Copyright © 2010 AFP. All rights reserved
No comments:
Post a Comment