Ref: 26/2010

The Palestinian Centre for
Human Rights (PCHR) apologizes for not organizing activities which were planned
to commemorate Palestinian Prisoners Day because of measures and restrictions
imposed by the Ministry of Interior in the Gaza Strip, which constitute an assault
against the right to peaceful assembly that is legally and constitutionally
ensured under international human rights instruments. 

PCHR commemorates the
Palestinian Prisoners Day on 17 April each year as part of PCHR’s efforts to
defend the rights of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and to support
their demands to enjoy freedom. This
year, PCHR selected Khan Yunis town to organize a central activity on 19 April
2010, in the form of a seminar, in which former prisoners who were recently
released would participate to talk about detention conditions in Israeli jails
and the suppression and ill-treatment practiced by jailers against Palestinian
prisoners. It was also planned to invite
a number of prisoners’ mothers to talk about their experiences and the
suffering they endure as they have been denied their right to visit their sons
for more than four years. This activity
was planned to include an exhibition of artworks representing the suffering of
prisoners, their aspiration to freedom and the solidarity of the Palestinian
people with them. A poster was also
planned to be published and distributed as part of this activity. 

As part of PCHR’s
preparations to organize these activities, PCHR’s Public Relations Officer in
Khan Yunis, Mr. Abdul Halim Abu Samra, wanted to book the hall of the Palestinian
Red Crescent Society (PRCS) and make other necessary preparations. However, PCHR was surprised by the PRCS’s
refusal to book the hall for PCHR without an official permission from security
services to organize the planned seminar. Abu Samra reported that he headed on 8 April to PRCS’s office in al-Amal
neighborhood in Khan Yunis to book the hall. He met with the competent PRCS officer who refused to book the hall
without presenting a permit issued by the police to organize the seminar. Abu Samra phoned the PRCS managing director
who said that they received verbal orders from the Internal Security Service
not to book any of the PRCS’s halls to organize any activities without presenting
permits issued the chief of police and that they would be held responsible in
case of violating these orders. 

On Sunday, 11 April 2010,
Mr. Sharif Abu Nassar, a PCHR lawyer,
headed to the office of Ali al-Qedra, the chief of police in Khan Yunis, and debated
the legality of the decision. Abu Nassar
told the chief of police that this decision is in violation of the Public Meetings
Law and of the Constitution. He
explained that the hall is a closed location and that the law does not require
even a notification in this case. Al- Qedra
insisted that PCHR gets a permission in accordance with the decision of the
Ministry of Interior in this regard. 

PCHR strongly condemns the
insistence of security services to get prior permissions to organize activities
and meetings in closed halls which do not constitute public assemblies that
require sending a notification to the chief of police under the Public Meetings
Law. As an organization that defends
human rights, the philosophy of PCHR’s work is based on the principle of the
rule of law. PCHR will not accept any
demands that violate the law and undermine the principle of the rule of the law. 

In light of the above,
PCHR apologizes to prisoners and their families for being forced to cancel its
planned activities to commemorate the Palestinian Prisoners’ Day this year and
reiterates:

1. Its demand to put an end to the unjustified
   intervention of security services and the Ministry of Interior into public
   freedoms, and to respect the right to organize public assemblies,
   especially those ensured by the law and the constitution. 
2. That the decision of the Ministry of Interior
   and the measures taken by security services are in violation of the
   provision of Article 26 (5) of the 2003 Amended Basic Law which stipulates
   that “To conduct private meetings without the presence of police members,
   and to conduct public meetings, gatherings and processions, within the
   limits of the law.”
3. This seminar and other similar assemblies and
   workshops organized in closed locations are not subject to the Public Meetings
   Law which guarantees civilians’ right to organize public assemblies freely
   after sending a written notification to the governor or to the chief of
   police at least 48 hours prior to the organization of the assembly. 
4. The Executive Bill of the Public Meetings Law
   which was issued by late President Yaser Arafat, in his capacity as the
   Interior Minister, is in contradiction with the word and spirit of the
   Public Meetings Law and the 2003 Amended Basic Law. PCHR reiterates its demand to annul or amend
   this Executive Bill in line with the Law. This Bill requires that the organizers of an assembly to get a
   prior permission from the chief of police while the Law requires them to
   send a written notification of the assembly to the governor or to the
   chief of police.