12 May 2010
Amnesty International has called on the Israeli
authorities to end their harassment of a human rights activist whose week-long
detention by the Israeli authorities was extended today.
Ameer Makhoul, a Palestinian citizen of Israel, was arrested in a dawn raid at
his home in Haifa, northern Israel, by the Israeli security services and police
on 6 May. He has been charged with “contact with a foreign agent” on
the basis of “secret evidence”.
“Ameer Makhoul is a key human rights defender, well-known for his civil
society activism on behalf of the Palestinian citizens of Israel,” said
Philip Luther, Deputy Director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North
Africa Programme.
“His arrest and continued detention smacks of pure harassment, designed to
hinder his human rights work. If this is the case, we would regard him as a
prisoner of conscience call for his immediate and unconditional release.”
Ameer Makhoul has been denied legal advice throughout his detention. The doctor
at the prison where he is held has informed his lawyer that he is suffering
from pains in his head.
On the morning of his arrest, Ameer Makhoul was taken to Petah Tikva
interrogation centre and, at a hearing the same day, his detention was
authorized for six days. Today it was extended until 17 May.
According to Ameer’s wife, Janan Makhoul, during the raid on their home,
security forces confiscated mobile phones, laptops, a camera, and documents.
The same morning, members of the Israeli security forces also raided the office
of the association Ittijah in Haifa, where Ameer Makhoul works.
Ameer Makhoul had already been banned from travelling for two months on 21
April by the Israeli Minister of the Interior Eli Yishai, who said at the time
that Ameer Makhoul’s exit from the country “poses a serious threat to the
security of the state”.
The Palestinian activist was only made aware of the ban when he attempted to
leave Israel on 22 April, where he was scheduled to begin a series of meetings
with civil society activists in Jordan.
When Amnesty International spoke to Ameer Makhoul in late April he expressed
his concern that the travel ban was part of a broader pattern of state
repression against the peaceful political activities of Palestinian citizens of
Israel, justified under “security concerns”.
In January 2009, the Israeli Central Election Committee banned the National
Democratic Assembly (NDA), a party which currently holds three seats in the
Israeli parliament and calls for Israel to be “a state for all its
citizens”, and the United Arab List, which has four parliamentary
representatives, from standing in Israel’s general elections under the claim
that the parties supported terrorism and “did not recognize Israel’s
existence as a Jewish and democratic state”.
The Committee’s ban on the two parties was subsequently overturned by the
Israeli High Court.
On 24 April, Omar Said, an activist with the NDA was detained by the Israeli
authorities.
Initially a gagging order was imposed on the Israeli press to prevent reporting
of Ameer Makhoul’s and Omar Said’s detentions.
The lifting of the order led to reports in the Israeli media on Monday that the
arrests of both men related to accusations of spying and contact with a foreign
agent from Lebanese group Hizbullah.
Ameer Makhoul has been the General Director of Ittijah, which works on behalf
of the Palestinian community in Israel, since its foundation in 1995.
He is also the chair of the Public Committee for the Defence of Political
Freedom within the Arab Higher Monitoring Committee in Israel.
“In the unlikely event that there are genuine grounds to prosecute Ameer
Makhoul he should be charged with recognizable criminal offences and brought
promptly to trial in full conformity with international fair trial
standards,” said Philip Luther.
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East Mediterranean Team
Amnesty International, International Secretariat
Peter Benenson House, 1 Easton Street
London WC1X 0DW
United Kingdom
E-mail: Eastmed@amnesty.org
Tel: +44 (0)20 7413 5500
Fax: +44 (0)20 7413 5719
