Human rights group Amnesty Int'l urged Israel to release or hold trials for 3 Palestinians - Habeas Corpus
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JERUSALEM (AFP) - Human rights group Amnesty International
urged Israel on Friday to release or fairly try three
Palestinian jailed for protesting against the West Bank
separation barrier.
The three, two of whom are held without charges, may be
"prisoners of conscience, held for legitimately voicing
their opposition to the fence/wall," Amnesty said in a
letter to Defence Minister Ehud Barak.
"These men have all been involved in campaigning against the
building of this construction, much of it on the land of the
occupied West Bank, and we fear that this is the real reason
for their imprisonment," said Malcolm Smart, the director of
Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa Programme.
"If this is the case they must be released immediately and
unconditionally."
Jamal Juma, coordinator of the Stop the Wall campaign, has
not been charged with any offence since his arrest on
December 16 and has not had access to his lawyer.
He is held under Israeli military law, which applies to the
occupied West Bank.
"As someone who holds a Jerusalem ID card, according to
Israeli law his case should be handled under the country?s
civil, not military, legal system," the London-based human
rights watchdog said.
Mohammed Othman is also held without charge since September
22. He was arrested upon his return from Norway where he met
activist groups and campaigned against the wall, Amnesty
said.
Abdullah Abu Rahma, who heads Popular Committee Against the
Wall in the West Bank village of Bilin, was arrested on
December 10.
He has been charged with incitement, stone-throwing, and
possession of arms, the latter for collecting spent
cartridges and tear gas grenades used by Israeli forces to
disperse anti-wall protesters.
"These three men are all well known for their defence of the
human rights of Palestinians. In the unlikely event that
there are genuine grounds to prosecute these men, they
should be charged with recognisable criminal offences and
brought promptly to trial in full conformity with
international fair trial standards," said Smart.
Israel says the barrier helps prevent attacks against its
citizens, Palestinians call it an "apartheid wall," and the
international community say the parts built West Bank rather
than along its border with Israel are illegal.
According to UN figures, Israel has so far completed 413
kilometres (256 miles) of its planned 709-kilometre (435-
mile) barrier, a network of walls, barbed-wire fences,
trenches, and closed military roads.
When completed, 85 percent of the wall will have been built
inside the West Bank, leaving 9.5 percent of the territory
and 35,000 Palestinians between the barrier and the Green Line.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/100108/world/mideast_conflict_rights
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