Israel Issued 1,056 Administrative Detention Orders Since the Start of 2022

Gaza, MINA – The Palestine Centre for Prisoner Studies revealed on Wednesday that Israeli military courts have issued 1,056 administrative detention orders since the start of 2022. Of these, said the centre, 469 are new orders, and 587 have been renewed, MEMO reported.

“Administrative detention is a criminal policy aimed at depleting the life of the Palestinians in prison without a legal base,” said Riyad al-Ashqar, the Director of the centre and a former prisoner himself. “It is dictated by the desire of the Israeli occupation officers and the military courts, which take orders based on secret files.”

According to Al-Ashqar, this is why the prisoners held under administrative detention go on hunger strike for long periods to put pressure on the Israeli occupation authorities to release them. Khalil Awawdeh, for example, has been on hunger strike for about five months.

Today, there are 660 Palestinians held under administrative detention inside Israeli prisons. They include four MPs, two women — one of them a journalist — and two minors.

Prisoners held under administrative detention face neither charge nor trial, and the orders can be renewed repeatedly. Those in prison today have been boycotting Israeli military courts since the start of this year in an attempt to shed light on their predicament.

Al-Ashqar called on the international community to take a strong position against administrative detention, which amounts to a flagrant violation of international laws and conventions.(T/R3/RE1)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)