Aziz Dweik has been given a six-month administrative detention order

The Speaker of the Palestinian parliament, Aziz Dweik, has been placed under administrative detention following his arrest on 19 January.

Israeli military officials arrested Aziz Dweik, the Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), while he was crossing a military checkpoint near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank on 19 January 2012. He was taken to Ofer detention centre and held there for five days without charge. On 24 January 2012, Aziz Dweik appeared in court where a judge handed him a six-month administrative detention order signed by a military commander, which can be renewed indefinitely.

Aziz Dweik now joins 20 other PLC members currently held by the Israeli authorities in administrative detention.
 

Aziz Dweik was previously arrested in June 2006 shortly after he was elected into the PLC as a representative from the Hamas parliamentary bloc. Aziz Dweik was convicted of "belonging to an illegal organization" and sentenced to three years in prison. He was released in 2009.

Administrative detention is a procedure under which detainees are held without charge or trial for periods of up to six months, which can be renewed indefinitely. No criminal charges are filed against administrative detainees and there is no intention of bringing them to trial. Detainees are held on the basis of "secret evidence" which the Israeli military authorities claim cannot be revealed for security reasons. Hence the "secret evidence" on which the military authorities base their decision to issue an administrative detention order is not made available to detainees or their lawyers, and detainees cannot challenge the reasons for their detention.
 

Please write immediately in Hebrew or your own language:

* Calling on the Israeli authorities to release Aziz Dweik, and the other Palestinian parliamentarians held in administrative detention, unless they are promptly charged with internationally recognizable criminal offences and brought to trial in full conformity with international fair trial standards;

* Calling on the Israeli authorities to end the use of administrative detention, which violates the right to a fair trial as guaranteed by Article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 7 MARCH 2012 TO:

Military Judge Advocate General                                                                                                                                                               Brigadier General  Danny Efroni                                                                                                                                                                                              6 David Elazar Street
Hakirya,
Tel Aviv,
Israel
Fax:   00 972 3 569 4526
Email:  avimn@idf.gov.il

Salutation:  Dear Judge Advocate General

Commander of the IDF - West Bank
Major-General Avi Mizrahi
GOC Central Command
Military Post 01149
Battalion 877
Israel Defense Forces,
Israel
Fax:   00 972 2 530 5741 / 00 972 2 530 5724
Salutation:  Dear Major-General Avi Mizrahi

And copies to:

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence 
Ehud Barak 
Ministry of Defence
37 Kaplan Street, Hakirya  
Tel Aviv 61909,
Israel 
Fax:   00 972 3 691 6940 /  00 972 3 696 2757

HE Mr. Boaz Modai
Ambassador of Israel
Embassy of Israel
122 Pembroke Road,
Ballsbridge,
Dublin 4
Telephone:  01 230 9400
Faxes:           01 230 9446
Email:        info@dublin.mfa.gov.il

For office use.

UA: 23/12

Index: MDE 15/002/2012

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