Palestinian cartoonist and writer Mohammed Sabaana is being held as an administrative detainee, which allows the Israeli authorities to detain him indefinitely without charge and denies him any real opportunity to challenge the detention order. The legal basis for Israel's use of Administrative Detention is the British Mandate 1945 Law on Authority in States of Emergency' as amended in 1979.

 

International Council for Human Rights - Palestine Project, is profoundly dismayed by the arrest of Mohammed Sabaana who was detained by Israeli security forces at 10am on Saturday, 16 February from Allenby Crossing while he was returning to the occupied West Bank from Jordan.

 

The Israeli security forces refuse to disclose any details on Mohammed Sabaana's whereabouts and further deny to grant access to his lawyer or his family members. He is also at serious risk of torture and ill-treatment.

 

Mohammed Sabaana is a famous Palestinian political cartoonist in the Arab world, who has been active recently in criticising the Israeli policies on administrative detentions. His work is focusing on addressing and supporting the Palestinian hunger striker detainees in the Israeli prisons. Sabaana has received many awards at national and international festivals for his publications. 

 

The legal basis for Israel's use of Administrative Detention is the British Mandate 1945 Law on Authority in States of Emergency' as amended in 1979. Administrative detention is a detention without charge for renewable terms. Orders are based on evidence withheld from the detainees and their lawyers. A mass hunger strike of around 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees protesting against poor prison conditions, solitary confinements, denial of family visits and detention without charge ended on 14 May 2012 following an Egyptian-brokered deal with the Israeli authorities. Despite media reports suggesting that Israel had agreed not to renew administrative detention orders unless significant new intelligence information was presented, the Israeli authorities, nevertheless, have continued renewing such orders and issuing new ones. As of 30 December 2012, there are 178 administrative detainees. Some of the administrative detainees have been released having agreed to leave to leave the Occupied Palestinian Territories and go into exile abroad. The Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits an occupying power from forcibly transferring or deporting people from an occupied territory.

 

Please write immediately in English, Hebrew or your own language:

 

• Calling on the Israeli authorities to release Mohammed Sabaana and all other Palestinian administrative detainees immediately, unless they are properly charged with internationally recognizable criminal offences and brought to trial in full conformity with international fair trial standards;
• Calling on them to ensure that Mohammed Sabaana and all hunger strikers receive all the specialist medical attention they require, which is only available in a civilian hospital, ensuring regular access to doctors of their choice, and  not subjected to shackling or other cruel or inhuman treatment;
• Urging them to end the use of administrative detention and permit all detainees family visits.

 

PLEASE SEND APPEALS TO:

 

Avi Mizrahi

 

West Bank Commander of the IDF – GOC Central Command

 

Military Post 01149Battalion 877

 

Israel Defense Forces, Israel

 

Fax: +972 2 530 5741

 

 

 

Menahem Mazuz

 

Israeli Attorney General

 

29 Salah al-Din Street

 

Jerusalem

 

Fax: +972 2 530 5741 / 530 5724

 

 

 

Ban Ki-moon

 

Secretary General

 

United Nations

 

New York, 10017, USA

 

Fax: +1 212 963 4879

 

 

 

Navanethem Pillay

 

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

 

Palais Wilson , 52 rue des Pâquis 

 

CH-1201 Geneva, Switzerland

 

Fax: +41 22 917 90 00

 

 

 

Christof Heyns

 

Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions (OHCHR) 

 

Palais des Nations 

 

CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland

 

Fax: +41 22 917 90 00

 

  

 

Bastiaan Belder MEP

 

Chair, Delegation for relations with Israel 

 

Parlement européen

 

Bât. Altiero Spinelli

 

04F266, rue Wiertz 60

 

B-1047 Bruxelles, Belgium

 

Fax: +32(0)2 28 49270