Israel: The injustice and secrecy surrounding administrative detention

Amnesty International
6 June 2012

"Israel must release all Palestinians held under long-standing administrative detention laws or charge and try them promptly and fairly, Amnesty International said in a new report.

'Starved of justice: Palestinians detained without trial by Israel’ documents human rights violations associated with administrative detention – a relic of British control of the area that permits detention without charge or trial on indefinitely renewable military orders.The report also calls on Israel to stop using these measures to suppress the legitimate and peaceful activities of activists in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.It urges the immediate and unconditional release prisoners of conscience held just for peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of expression and assembly.

Administrative detainees – like many other Palestinian prisoners – have been subjected to violations such as the use of torture and other ill-treatment during interrogation, as well as cruel and degrading treatment during their detention, sometimes as punishment for hunger strikes or other protests. In addition, administrative detainees and their families must live with the uncertainty of not knowing how long they will be deprived of their liberty and the injustice of not knowing exactly why they are being detained.

Like other Palestinian prisoners, they have also faced bans on family visits, forcible transfer or deportation and solitary confinement.These practices contravene Israel’s obligations under international human rights law and international humanitarian law. Israel has a duty to uphold due process and fair trial rights, and to take effective action to end torture and other ill-treatment of detainees......

“Israel has used its system of administrative detention – intended as an exceptional measure against people posing an extreme and imminent danger to security – to trample on the human rights of detainees for decades. It is a relic that should be put out to pasture.”....."

Click Here to Download Report (pdf)