On 6 March, an Israeli military court extended for another six months the detention without charge of a Palestinian human rights defender. As usual in such cases, the alleged evidence against Ayman Nasser has been kept secret.
Ayman is the co-ordinator of the legal unit of Palestinian NGO Addameer (Conscience), the prisoner support and human rights association. He was arrested in his home in the village of Safa, west of Ramallah on the West Bank, last September.
This is the fourth time that Ayman has been detained by Israeli forces without charge or trial. The last time, in 2014, he was held for over a year.
Addameer sees Ayman’s case as part of a systematic targeting of Palestinian human rights defenders in the Occupied Territories. It undermines the ability of the Palestinian society to oppose illegal actions by the occupation.
Addameer points out: ‘human rights defenders’ ability to document the occupation’s violations and defend the fundamental rights of their people, is the basis for their protection under international law.’
According to B’Tselem, the Israeli human rights group, at the end of January 2019, there were 5,298 Palestinian security detainees and prisoners being held in Israel prisons, including 293 from the Gaza Strip.
Topics: Israel-Palestine