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13-year-old Shadi Farrah and Ahmad Zaatari have been sentenced to two years in prison by an Israeli court. The two boys were arrested in December 2016 while en route home from school in Jerusalem. Accounts state that Israeli settlers had called the police to investigate the boys, who were then arrested on suspicion of attempting to carry out a stabbing attack. The boys were charged with attempted manslaughter – even in the absence of evidence against them. The two are currently held in a rehabilitation center in 1948 territories.
Palestinian child Marah Bakeer has been sentenced by an Israeli court to 8 years and a half years in prison, including 10,000 NIS fine. Marah Bakeer, a 17-year-old girl from the city of Jerusalem, was arrested on 10 October 2015, after she was shot 10 times in her left arm by an Israeli soldier. According to an affidavit, Marah was not carrying anything, and when the soldier asked her to raise her hands, she did so, but he pushed her which made her fall on the ground. When the police attended the scene, a police officer pushed her to the ground again, causing her to hit her head with the ground. The police officer started searching her body with his hands, took her headscarf off and took...
Palestinian prisoner Nael Barghouthi, 59 has been imprisoned for 36 years in Israeli jails, and he is the longest-held Palestinian political prisoner. Today, on the basis of so-called "secret evidence," he is threatened with the re-imposition of life imprisonment with no charges and no legitimate trial. Along with over 1,000 fellow prisoners, he was released in 2011 as part of the Wafa al-Ahrar prisoner exchange. While he married after his release and returned to his life, in 2014, he was swept up with other former prisoners in a series of arrests. Under Israeli military order 1651 - violating the release agreement - re-arrested prisoners can have their former sentences reimposed upon them...
Palestinian prisoners’ affairs institutions – the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society, Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association and Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights – issued the following report on 1 January 2017, summarizing the statistics related to Palestinian prisoners over the year 2016. During 2016, the Israeli occupation arrested 6,440 Palestinians in 2016, including 1332 children and 164 women. At the end of the year, the number of Palestinian prisoners has reached approximately 7,000, including around 300 minor children, 53 women (among them 11 minor girls), 700 administrative detainees and 22 journalists. Young people were among those most vulnerable to arrest campaigns...
On 25 December 2016, Israeli forces released 16-year-old administrative detainee Hamza Hammad, who was held under administrative detention without charge or trial since 28 February 2016. Hamza was arrested on Sunday 28/2/2016 during a violent night raid on his home, where Israeli occupation forces pointed their weapons at the family members, including children. The military prosecution claimed that the child, Hamza Hammad, is active in an illegal organization and that he participates in activities, including military ones, affiliated with the same organization. Hamza was arrested six months prior to this arrest, and was released on bail after 20 days of interrogation, without any charges...
On Thursday, 22 December 2016, at dawn, approximately 50-60 soldiers of Israeli forces raided the homes of former prisoners Ja’afar Izzeddein, Tareq Qadan, Mona Qadan, and destroyed property (including the building door and furniture) and threatened them with arrests. Money and electronic objects were also confiscated. Mona Qadan was released from prison on 10 March 2016, after spending three and a half years in prison. Prior to that arrest, she was arrested numerous times, and was previously released under the Wafa Al-Ahrar prisoner exchange deal in 2011. Tareq Qadan was released on 12 August 2015, after spending one year and a half under administrative detention without charge or trial...
On 21 December 2016, the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court confirmed the administrative detention order of six months against Addameer's Media Coordinator Hasan Safadi. Al Safadi was set to be released on 7 December 2016, but his administrative detention was renewed for six additional months. Occupation forces arrested Journalist and Addameer Media Coordinator Hasan Safadi while he was crossing Al Karameh Bridge on 01/05/2016, where he was detained at around 4.00 PM. Safadi was stopped at the bridge after being identified by a soldier. He was searched in a surveillance room on the bridge and then was transferred to Al Moskobiyyeh Interrogation Center. A 6-month administrative detention order was...
Appeal by military prosecution accepted to further detain five Sanabel Radio employees until the end of trial proceedings. The five employees, who face charges of incitement, were arrested during night raid on their homes in Hebron on 31 August 2016. The court ordered their release on 6 October 2016, however, the prosecution appealed the court decision and requested that they are remanded until the end of proceedings. The prosecution's appeal was accepted yesterday 19 December 2016.
Longest serving prisoner Nael Barghouti, 59, continues to be held despite having served his latest sentence of 30 months on 17 December 2016, which was issued based on secret information. An appeal was submitted by the prosecution on 25 November 2015, who seek to re-instate a previous life sentence on Mr. Barghouti. However, the military court judge has not given a response to the appeal yet. Barghouti faces the possibility of re-instatement of life sentence based on secret information. An appeal has been submitted by Addameer to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. Mr. Barghouti was first arrested when he was 20 years old in April 1978. Barghouti was released as part of the Wafa Al...
Amnesty International calls for urgent action on the administrative detention of Palestinian trainer and circus performer Mohammad Abu Sakha, 25, who had his administrative detention order renewed on Sunday, 11 December 2016. Abu Sakha has been imprisoned in Israeli prisons without charge or trial for a year. He was arrested on 14/12/2015 at around 4:00 pm while he was crossing Zaatara military checkpoint near Nablus to go to his work in Birzeit village, near Ramallah. Abu Sakha has been with the Palestinian Circus School since 2007. He became a performer and a trainer in the circus in 2011. He has participated in various performances in Europe and the United States. He has also...