Dorothy Online Newsletter

NOVANEWS
Dear Friends,
 
Just 3 items tonight.  I apologize, but had no time today to read.  However, the initial item is at least positive, of a sort.  The Israeli High Court has, without explanation, has moved up Khader Adnan’s case from Thursday to tomorrow.  I do not put much hope in any positive results from our Supreme Court, especially now that judges with acknowledged right-wing tendencies have been added to it.  Familiarity with its previous decisions where Palestinians are involved leads me to be very skeptical of anything positive coming out of this.  The Court will most likely demand that the army give its reasons for not being transparent and for not charging him for supposed offences in a courtroom trial.  The military has a standard response to this question: “security.”  In any event, if the court demands that military give its reasons, that will take at least another day.  Well—we shall just have to wait and see.  May I be proven wrong.  May justice for a change prevail, and Adnan live.
 
Item 2 is also on Khader Adnan, but by a Palestinian citizen of Israel and Member of the Knesset—Ahmed Tibi, who visited Adnan yesterday.
 
Item 3 is also about a Palestinian prisoner, but not about Khader Adnan.  This prisoner,  Bassem Tamimi from Nabi Saleh, told the judge (military judge in a military court) “I do not recognize your rules.”  Brave man. But again this is very unlikely to free him or mete out a just verdict.
 
That’s it for tonight.
Keep your fingers and toes crossed that something decent will come out of the High Court hearing tomorrow.
 
Dorothy
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1 Haaretz
Monday, February 20, 2012
 
Israel’s Supreme Court moves up hearing of Palestinian prisoner on months-long hunger strike
Islamic Jihad member Khader Adnan is appealing the legality of his detention since he says he has not been charged and does not know what he is suspected of doing.
 
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/israel-s-supreme-court-moves-up-hearing-of-palestinian-prisoner-on-months-long-hunger-strike-1.413824
 
By The Associated Press
 
The Supreme Court has brought forward a hearing this week on the appeal of a Palestinian prisoner waging an unprecedented two-month hunger strike, court officials and his lawyers said Monday.
 
A statement from the Supreme Court said Khader Adnan’s appeal will be held Tuesday. No explanation was given as to why it had been brought forward. It was scheduled to take place on Thursday.
 
Palestinians hold pictures of Khader Adnan, a jailed senior member of Islamic Jihad who has been on hunger strike for nearly two months, during a protest outside the Red Cross headquarters in Gaza.
 
Photo by: AFP
 
Adnan’s lawyer Mahmoud Hassan says the 33 year-old member of the Islamic Jihad militant group is in danger of death after 65 days of a hunger strike protesting Israel’s policy of long-term detention without trial.
 
His case has attracted widespread attention among Palestinians, with large crowds holding regular protests in his support.
 
The life-threatening gamble has also drawn broader attention toward Israel’s policy of “administrative detention,” under which Palestinians can be held without charge for months or even years at a time.
 
Adnan has not been charged with a crime and says he does not know what he is suspected of doing.
 
His family says he is a member of Islamic Jihad, which has killed dozens of Israelis in suicide bombings and other attacks, but it is not known if he was involved in violence.
 
Both the European Union and the United Nations have said they are following the case closely and urged Israel to give Adnan an open trial.
 
Adnan was arrested on Dec. 17 and later sentenced to four months of administrative detention. He launched the strike a day after his arrest, protesting his administrative detention and claiming he was beaten and humiliated in captivity.
 
Israel has defended its policy as a way to address imminent security threats. It says that releasing evidence against suspects would endanger its network of informants.
 
Capt. Eytan Buchman, an Israeli military spokesman, says Adnan is suspected of acts that “threaten regional security.” He would not elaborate.
 
A military court already rejected an appeal by Adnan on Feb. 13. Adnan’s lawyers said that after 65 days without food, his condition is so poor that they are not sure he will make it past the hearing.
 
He is losing his hair, his muscles have atrophied and he can only speak in whispers, said Yael Moram, a spokeswoman for Israel’s Physicians for Human Rights, which has been monitoring his condition.
 
Adnan is being held under guard in a hospital in northern Israel. He has been taking liquids infused with electrolytes to keep alive.
 
In a separate development Monday, Israeli police said vandals sprayed anti-Christian graffiti on a Baptist church in Jerusalem.
 
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the words “price tag” were also scrawled on the church property. It is a reference to a practice of Jewish extremists who lash out against the Israeli government for actions against settlers.
 
Such attacks usually target Muslim and Palestinian sites in the West Bank, but the vandals have recently spread their activities to target Muslim and Christian minorities in Israel.
 
Rosenfeld said police were searching for the suspects.
 
+++++
2 Ynet Monday, February 20, 2012
 
MK Tibi: Israel must free Palestinian hunger striker
Arab MK ‘doesn’t understand rationale’ behind keeping Khader Adnan shackled to hospital bed; warns of West Bank, Gaza protests if prisoner dies in Israel
 
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4192315,00.html
 
Maor Buchnik Published:  02.20.12, 15:27 / Israel News
 
Knesset Member Ahmad Tibi (United Arab List-Ta’al) on Monday called on the Israeli government to “immediately” release a Palestinian prisoner who has been on a hunger strike for more than two months.
 
Khader Adnan, 33, has been held without charge under “administrative detention” since mid-December. He is being kept shackled to a hospital bed at the Ziv Medical Center in Safed despite warning that he may be close to death.
 
“As a physician and Knesset member I find (the practice of shackling) objectionable,” Tibi said after meeting Adnan. He urged Israeli authorities to release the prisoner and avoid the “harsh ramifications” of his death in an Israeli hospital.
 
Tibi at hospital (Photo: Avihu Shapira)
 
Physicians for Human Rights – Israel said it would file an appeal with the administrative court in Petah Tikva, claiming that Adnan is being kept chained to the bed 24 hours a day. The Israel Prison Service said only one of Adnan’s feet is shackled to the bed – and only during the night.
 
According to Tibi, Adnan’s life is in danger. “The prisoner has been on a hunger strike for 64 days, and it is known that after 45 days the body begins to decompose on its own. This is what Adnan is experiencing now,” the Arab lawmaker said.
 
Tibi also claimed that Adnan is kept chained to the bed all day. “Even when he goes to the bathroom he is handcuffed,” he said.
 
“Adnan is exhausted. He’s lost more than 30 kilos (66 pounds), so I don’t understand the rationale behind keeping him shackled to the bed – unless it’s for the purpose of humiliation and abuse,” Tibi said
 
“If he dies, the Israeli government and those who arrested him will bear the criminal and public responsibility. This may lead to the eruption of protests in the West Bank, Gaza and other places,” the MK warned.
 
“Adnan has become a symbol in the entire world. I’ve received a message of support from a family in Northern Ireland whose son died in prison. We are talking about a man who has never been charged of hurting anyone or using a weapon. He is a political and public activist.”
 
Adnan, a resident of Arabeh, near Jenin, is a senior Islamic Jihad figure in the West Bank. He was detained on December 17 and launched a hunger strike the following day, claiming he was innocent.
 
He has been held under administrative detention before, and has served time in Israel for various security offenses.
 
In early January Adnan was transferred to an Israel Prison Service medical center, but he refused to be examined. Members of the Medical Ethics Committee spoke with Adnan and gained the impression that he does not want to die. The meaning of the decision is that IPS doctors can give him transfusions of salts and sugars if necessary.
 
+++++++++
Forwarded by Jonathan Pollak
Press Release  
Monday, 20 February 2012
Palestinian Activist to Judge: I Do Not Recognize Your Rules
Bassem Tamimi from Nabi Saleh testified yesterday as part of the defense’s case in the ongoing trial against him. Tamimi, suspected of protest related charges, was arrested on March last year, and remains in detention since.
After 11 months in an Israeli jail, Bassem Tamimi, a prominent Palestinian activist from Nabi Saleh, was given a chance to plead his case before the military court in regards to the allegations against him, denying them in full while owning up to his and his village’s struggle against the Occupation and the theft of their lands. Tamimi, who was recognized by the European Union as a human rights defender last year, said, “International law gives us the right to peaceful protest, to demonstrate our refusal of the policies that hurt us, our daily life and the future of our children”.
Media contact: Jonathan Pollak             +972-54-632-7736
See here for a short video with archive footage and an interview with Tamimi held shortly before his arrest.
Tamimi began his testimony by telling of his past experience in Israeli prisons and interrogation rooms. He recounted how he was tortured so badly by the Israeli Shin Bet in 1993 that he suffered a severe Intracranial hemorrhage which left him unconscious for a week and partially paralyzed.
He then continued to explain the reason behind the Nabi Saleh protests, saying “I do not know and do not care if they are permitted by your law, as it was enacted by an authority I do not recognize”. He narrated how the settlers from the nearby Halamish continuously took over lands belonging to his village since the 1970s abetted by the army and how, when villagers tried to prevent the latest attempts to seize their lands, the Israeli army exerted repression tactics against them. “Every time we try to help them work the land, before we reach it, they disperse us using rubber bullets, tear gas and using excessive force. This is what happens every Friday”, he said.
Based on coerced statements extracted unlawfully by the Israeli police from two minors, Tamimi is charged with organizing his village of 500 people in a formation of 11 battalions and assigning them different roles during the demonstrations. When asked of his reply to the charges against him Tamimi answered, This is ridiculous and makes no sense, how stupid would I be to try and organize a 500 people village in 11 battalions […] If indeed there were such battalions how come the Shin Bet or anyone else did not continue the investigation and arrests after mine was carried out? No one continued to look into this issue to try and dismantle this ‘army’ of mine”, he cynically remarked. “True justice would not have me stand here before this court at all, let alone while I am imprisoned and shackled. This case is baseless and made up with the sole goal of putting me behind bars […]”, he continued.
During the course of Tamimi’s trial, new evidence has emerged, including proof of systematic violations of Palestinian minors’ rights during police interrogations, as well as first hand verification given by a military commander of disproportional use of force by the army in response to peaceful demonstrations.
Legal background
On March 24th, 2011, a massive contingent of Israeli Soldiers raided the Tamimi home at around noon, only minutes after he entered the house to prepare for a meeting with a European diplomat. He was arrested and subsequently charged.
The main evidence in Tamimi’s case is the testimony of 14 year-old Islam Dar Ayyoub, also from Nabi Saleh, who was taken from his bed at gunpoint on the night of January 23rd. In his interrogation the morning after his arrest, Islam alleged that Bassem and Naji Tamimi organized groups of youth into “brigades”, charged with different responsibilities during the demonstrations: some were allegedly in charge of stone-throwing, others of blocking roads, etc.
During a trial-within-a-trial procedure in Islam’s trial, motioning for his testimony to be ruled inadmissible, it was proven that his interrogation was fundamentally flawed and violated the rights set forth in the Israeli Youth Law in the following ways:
1.    The boy was arrested at gunpoint in the dead of night, during a violent military raid on his house.
2.    Despite being a minor, he was denied sleep in the period between his arrest and questioning, which began the following morning and lasted over 5 hours.
3.    Despite being told he would be allowed to see a lawyer, he was denied legal counsel, although his lawyer appeared at the police station requesting to see him.
4.    He was denied his right to have a parent present during his questioning. The testimony of one of his interrogators before the court suggests that he believes Palestinian minors do not enjoy this right.
5.    He was not informed of his right to remain silent, and was even told by his interrogators that he “must tell of everything that happened.”
6.    Only one of four interrogators who participated in the questioning was a qualified youth interrogator.
The audio-visual recording of another central witness against Tamimi, 15 year-old Mo’atasem Tamimi, proves that he too was questioned in a similarly unlawful manner.
The audio-visual recording of another central witness against Tamimi, 15 year-old Mo’atasem Tamimi, proves that he too was questioned in a similarly unlawful manner and was led to believe that implicating others, may earn him a more lenient treatment. The boy was told, numerous times, “Tell us what happened […] and who in the village incited you to throw stones. […] (shouting) you were incited! You…. you are a young boy, Incited by people. Grownups, we know. It’s the grownups who incite you, right?”
Since the beginning of the village’s struggle against settler takeover of their lands in December of 2009, the army has conducted more than 80 protest related arrests. As the entire village numbers just over 500 residents, the number constitutes approximately 10% of its population.
Tamimi’s arrest corresponds to the systematic arrest of civil protest leaders all around the West Bank, as in the case of the villages Bil’in and Ni’ilin.
In a recent, nearly identical case, the Military Court of Appeals has aggravated the sentence of Abdallah Abu Rahmah from the village of Bilin, sending him to 16 months imprisonment on charges of incitement and organizing illegal demonstrations. Abu Rahmah was released on March 2011.
The arrest and trial of Abu Rahmah has been widely condemned by the international community, most notably by Britain and EU foreign minister, Catherin Ashton. Harsh criticism of the arrest has also been offered by leading human rights organizations in Israel and around the world, among them B’tselem, ACRI, as well as Human Rights Watch, which declared Abu Rahmah’s trial unfair, and Amnesty International, which declared Abu Rahmah a prisoner of conscience.
Personal Background
Bassem Tamimi is a veteran Palestinian grassroots activist from the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh, north of Ramallah. He is married to Nariman Tamimi, with whom he fathers four children – Wa’ed (14), Ahed (10), Mohammed (8) and Salam (5).
As a veteran activist, Tamimi has been arrested by the Israeli army 11 times to date, though he was never convicted of any offense. Tamimi spent roughly three years in administrative detention, with no charges brought against him. Furthermore, his attorney and he were denied access to “secret evidence” brought against him.
In 1993, Tamimi was falsely arrested on suspicion of having murdered an Israeli settler in Beit El – an allegation of which he was cleared of entirely. During his weeks-long interrogation, he was severely tortured by the Israeli Shin Bet in order to draw a coerced confession from him. During his interrogation, and as a result of the torture he underwent, Tamimi collapsed and had to be evacuated to a hospital, where he laid unconscious for seven days. As a result of the wounds caused by torture, Tamimi was partially paralyzed for several months after his release from the hospital.
At the opening of his trial on June 5th, Tamimi pleaded “not guilty” to all charges against him, but proudly owned up to organizing protest in the village. In a defiant speech before the court he said, “I organized these peaceful demonstrations to defend our land and our people.” Tamimi also challenged the legitimacy of the very system which trys him, saying that “Despite claiming to be the only democracy in the Middle East you are trying me under military laws […] that are enacted by authorities which I haven’t elected and do not represent me.” (See here for Tamimi’s full statement).
The indictment against Tamimi is based on questionable and coerced confessions of youth from the village. He is charged with’ incitement’, ‘organizing and participating in unauthorized processions’,’ solicitation to stone-throwing’, ‘failure to attend legal summons’, and a scandalous charge of ‘disruption of legal proceedings’, for allegedly giving youth advice on how to act during police interrogation in the event that they are arrested.
The transcript of Tamimi’s police interrogation further demonstrates the police and Military Prosecution’s political motivation and disregard for suspects’ rights. During his questioning, Tamimi was accused by his interrogator of “consulting lawyers and foreigners to prepare for his interrogation”, an act that is clearly protected under the right to seek legal counsel.

As one of the organizers of the Nabi Saleh protests and coordinator of the village’s popular committee, Tamimi has been the target of harsh treatment by the Israeli army. Since demonstrations began in the village, his house has been raided and ransacked numerous times, his wife was twice arrested and two of his sons were injured; Wa’ed, 14, was hospitalized for five days when a rubber-coated bullet penetrated his leg and Mohammed, 8, was injured by a tear-gas projectile that was shot directly at him and hit him in the shoulder. Shortly after demonstrations in the village began, the Israeli Civil Administration served ten demolition orders to structures located in Area C, Tamimi’s house was one of them, despite the fact that part of the house was built in 1965 and the rest in 2005.

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