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PRESS RELEASES 2000
Jerusalem, June
22, 2000
Seventy-three orders to release
prisoners by the Palestinian High Court since 1997, only
eighteen implemented.
From 1997 to June 2000, the Palestinian High Court examined
seventy-seven requests of release, ordered the immediate
release in seventy-three cases, rejected three appeals, and
annulled one because the prisoner had already been released.
Fifty-five orders of release remain unimplemented.
Only four detainees were released in the days following the
Court’s orders of release. In thirteen cases, the High Court
had ordered on October 12 1999 that the prisoners be
released, and they were set free only after they received
presidential pardon on February 6 2000. One prisoner
obtained a decision of release on June 8 1998 and was
released only twenty months later on February 6 2000.
From January 2000 until June 2000, the High Court ordered
the immediate release of thirteen prisoners, and only one
order was implemented.
The Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group (PHRMG)
strongly protests against the practice of not respecting the
Palestinian High Court decisions. The indifference shown by
the Executive towards the decisions of the Judiciary
strongly undermines its authority. The PHRMG calls on the
Palestinian National Authority to implement the fifty-five
orders of release that have been ignored until now.
The PHRMG is deeply concerned by the lack of will on part of
the Executive Authority to respect the rule of law, which
leads to constant violations of human rights by the police
and the security services. Over two hundred Palestinians
have been detained in Palestinian prisons for two years or
more without charges or trial. The PHRMG already published
the Arabic version of its report titled:
“Political Arrest…What For? Security Considerations or
Reasons of State of Emergency?”
This report will be available in English on our website at
http://www.phrmg.org by next week.
For more information, contact the PHRMG office:
Tel: 972 2 6262463, Fax: 972 2 6262378, e-mail: admin@phrmg.org
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