Wednesday, October 14, 2009 OCCUPIED JERUSALEM: Twenty-eight Palestinians have been held in administrative detention for two to four years, and one has been held for four-and-a-half years, according to a report due to be released early Wednesday morning by two human rights organizations, B'Tselem and Hamoked. The report, entitled "Without Trial," found that more than 1,000 Palestinians had been held simultaneously in administrative detention during the second intifada. At the end of September of this year, Israel was holding 335 administrative detainees, including three women and a minor. Thirty-seven percent of the detainees had been in jail for one to two years. The organizations charged that an administrative detention proceeding may look like a fair judicial process, but actually denies the detainees any chance of reasonably defending themselves.In the vast majority of cases, the judges agree to declare evidence privileged and rely on written reports prepared by the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) that are not available to the detainee or his attorney. As a result, the courts approve most detention orders. The organizations found that in the year between August 2008 and July 2009, military court judges approved 95% of the orders.In 2008, the military appeals court accepted 57% of the prosecution's appeals compared with 15% of those filed by detainees.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009 OCCUPIED JERUSALEM: Twenty-eight Palestinians have been held in administrative detention for two to four years, and one has been held for four-and-a-half years, according to a report due to be released early Wednesday morning by two human rights organizations, B'Tselem and Hamoked. The report, entitled "Without Trial," found that more than 1,000 Palestinians had been held simultaneously in administrative detention during the second intifada. At the end of September of this year, Israel was holding 335 administrative detainees, including three women and a minor. Thirty-seven percent of the detainees had been in jail for one to two years. The organizations charged that an administrative detention proceeding may look like a fair judicial process, but actually denies the detainees any chance of reasonably defending themselves.In the vast majority of cases, the judges agree to declare evidence privileged and rely on written reports prepared by the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) that are not available to the detainee or his attorney. As a result, the courts approve most detention orders. The organizations found that in the year between August 2008 and July 2009, military court judges approved 95% of the orders.In 2008, the military appeals court accepted 57% of the prosecution's appeals compared with 15% of those filed by detainees.
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