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P R E S S R E L E A S E
F R E E
D O M F O R H U S S A M K H A D E R
17
March 2007 marks the 4th anniversary of the arrest
and illegal detention of HUSSAM KHADER,
former
Palestinian Legislative Council member & senior
Fateh leader
Hussam
Khader was arrested in a violent arrest raid in Balata
Camp on 17 March 2003. Following a lengthy trial of 2½
years, he was sentenced to 7 years imprisonment in
November by an Israeli Military Court. The trial was
observed by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (it was
the first time an international observer has attended an
Israeli military court trial) and in October 2005, the
Inter-Parliamentary Union's Governing Council
issued a report on Khader's trial. The report concluded
that: "Mr Khader has not, since his arrest 2½ years ago,
had the benefit of compliance of international rules of
fair trial".
The IPU
trial report notes a number of periods during Khader’s
detention when he "disappeared" from the sight of his
family and lawyer, who were not informed of his
whereabouts, in clear violation of international law.
The trial report quotes Khader describing the torture
and inhuman treatment he suffered during intensive
interrogation and prolonged detention, and called for
these allegations “to be the subject of an impartial
investigation”.
(see
http://www.ipu.org/english/issues/hrdocs/177/report.htm).
Throughout his trial, Hussam Khader stated that he
believed the case against him was an attempt to silence
him because of his political beliefs, his comments on
corruption and the lack of transparency in the former
government, and his staunch support for a just solution
to the issue of Palestinian refugees and their right of
return, as enshrined in UN Resolution 194.
Forty-eight Parliamentarians from around the world have
called for Khader’s release.
In
February 2007, there were over 11,000 Palestinian
prisoners in Israeli jails: 110 women, 382 children, 870
adminstrative detainees and 40 Parliamentarians,
including Marwan Barghouti and Ahmad Sadat who was
illegally seized from Jericho prison in 2004. Over 117
detainees are being held in soliltary confinement. And
Israel continues to arrest tens of Palestinians each
week in the occupied West Bank.
Conditions
for all prisoners have worsened significantly in the
past year as Israel continues to violate international
human rights laws, including the Geneva Conventions, and
continues to use its prison system as a weapon in its
military occupation of the Occupied Territories through
the continuous denial of Palestinian prisoners’
fundamental human rights. Hunger strikes undertaken by
prisoners in January/February 2007 and the death of a
prisoner - Jamal Hasan Abdallah Al-Sarahin who died in
January 2007 - illustrate the on-going terrible inhuman
conditions in Israel’s jails.
W H A T C A N Y O U D O:
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Send a card to Hussam Khader in prison: Hussam Mahmoud
Abdel Rahman Khader, Beer Sheeva Prison, Eshel Section
No. 4, Area No. 84100, TH 5 9, Israel.
§
Write to your elected representative about Hussam
Khader’s case and that of the 11,000 Palestinian
prisoners in Israeli jails, including the 40 elected
parliamentarians. Ask you representative to take action
to ensure that Palestinian prisoners receive their full
rights as enshrined in international human rights law
and conventions to which Israel is a signatory.
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