Articles for Palestine

Geneva, 21 June 2016

On 19 May 2016, 34-year-old Palestinian journalist at Al Majd TV Mohammad Al-Qeeq was released after six months spent in administrative detention.

On 13 May 2016, the United Nations Committee against Torture (CAT) published its Concluding Observations following the submission by Israel of its fifth periodic report and the review sessions held on 3 and 4 May 2016.

Alkarama welcomes the release, on 24 April 2016, of 12-year-old Palestinian student Dima Al-Wawi, who was arrested on her way to school on 9 February 2016 and, on 18 February, was sentenced by the Israeli Ofer Court to four months in prison for “carrying a knife”, which according to the court, would have been used to kill Israeli settlers.

On 14 December 2015, 24-year-old circus performer Mohammad Faisal Nafez Abu Sakha was arrested by Israel Forces and later placed in administrative detention for six months for allegedly “being a member of an illegal organisation,” an accusation he denies.

On 18 February 2016, 12-year-old student Dima Al-Wawi was sentenced by the Israeli Ofer Court to four and a half months in prison and a fine of 8,000 Shekel (US$ 2,000) for "carrying a knife in her backpack, attempting to kill Israeli settlers and threatening Israel's security." She is currently detained in a prison for women together with other juvenile prisoners and her family is not allowed to visit her.

In the middle of the night on 8 January 2016, the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) destroyed Shafeeq Halabi's house in Surda, a village north of Ramallah, in reprisal against Halabi's son Muhannad shot dead by the police three months earlier for stabbing Israelis.

On 21 November 2015, 34-year-old reporter at Al Majd TV Mohammad-Adeeb Ahmad Sulaiman Alqeeq was arrested from his home by Israeli soldiers and taken to the Al Jalameh prison, where he was subjected to periods of incommunicado detention and torture. Accused of "inciting violence through the media", Alqeeq remains since in administrative detention.

Alkarama welcomed the release, on 11 January 2016, of Ali Mustafa Ahmad Hanoon, a blind Palestinian Imam arrested by Israeli soldiers in May 2014. Ali Mustafa was arbitrarily held in administrative detention for 20 months before being released.

On 26 July 2014, 20-year-old Fares Ghaleb Mohammad Dar-Sheikh-Saadah was arrested by members of the Israeli army at a checkpoint in Hebron, a city in the southern West Bank, and taken to the Ktzi'ot Prison in the Negev desert. In April 2015, after an incident at the prison, Fares was transferred to the Megiddo Prison in northern Israel, known for its repeated abuses of Palestinian children, where he has been detained in solitary confinement ever since.