Arbitrary detention of Mr. Ameer Makhoul

Israel

May 10, 2010

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Israel.

Description of the situation

The Observatory has been informed by reliable sources, including Al Haq and Defence for Children International - Palestine section (DCI), about the arrest and the travel restrictions imposed on Mr. Ameer Makhoul, General Director of Ittijah - the Union of Arab Community-Based Associations, and the Chairman of the Popular Committee for the Defence of Political Freedoms in the framework of the High Follow-up Committee for the Arab Citizens of Israel. In this position, he is engaged primarily in monitoring and denouncing the restrictions on the political freedoms of the Arab citizens of Israel.

According to the information received, on May 6, 2010 at 3:10 am, Mr. Ameer Makhoul was arrested when Israeli Security Agency (ISA) agents accompanied by Israeli police officers raided his family home in Haifa, northern Israel. The security forces conducted an extensive search of the home and confiscated Mr. Makhoul's family items such as documents, mobile phones, laptops and desktop computers, a camera and a tape recorder. At one point during the search, one officer restrained Mr. Makhoul's wife, twisting her arm and pushing her when she attempted to leave the home’s living room.

According to the same information, the security forces refused to identify themselves[1] and showed Mr. Makhoul's wife a warrant authorising her husband's arrest only after she repeatedly insisted. The order was signed on April 23, 2010 and cited unsubstantiated "security" reasons as the grounds for Mr. Makhoul's arrest. Approximately 40 minutes after their arrival, the group of the security forces left with Mr. Makhoul. At that very moment, the Israeli authorities raided the office of Ittijah and confiscated documents and the hard drives from all of the organisation’s computers.

On May 6 at around 8:00 am, Mr. Makhoul's wife received a phone call from someone identifying himself as a representative from the “international terrorism” section of Petah Tikva Interrogation Centre and informed her that Mr. Makhoul was being detained there for interrogation and that she could contact a lawyer to follow up on his case. At around 11 am, a judge sitting at the Petah Tikva Interrogation Centre[2] extended Mr. Makhoul’s detention for six days - i.e. until May 12 - and banned him from meeting with his attorney until at least May 8.

On May 7, 2010, the Petah Tikva Court denied an appeal challenging the order banning Mr. Makhoul from meeting with his attorneys and the ban was renewed for two days prior to its expiration on May 9 at midnight. It is now set to expire at midnight on May 11.

The next hearing in Mr. Makhoul’s case, to determine whether his detention will again be extended, is scheduled to be heard in the First Instance Court of Petah Tikva on May 12, 2010.

At the time of issuing this appeal, Mr. Makhoul reportedly remained in detention at Petah Tikva Interrogation Centre.

Mr. Ameer Makhoul's arrest comes shortly after Israeli Interior Minister, Mr. Eli Yishai, signed an administrative order prohibiting Mr. Makhoul from exiting the country for a two-month period[3]. The travel ban against Mr. Makhoul is scheduled to expire on June 21, 2010. However, as reportedly such bans are frequently renewed on or just before the end of the ban period.

Although Mr. Makhoul has the right to appeal his detention and the administrative order prohibiting him from exiting the country before the Israeli High Court, neither him nor his attorney have been permitted to see the evidence against him and have had no means of effectively challenging the order. Mr. Makhoul's arrest warrant and the travel ban order imposed on him are based on emergency regulations and "secret" information that is never disclosed to the defence.

The Observatory also learnt with concern that the Israeli Government prohibited the Israeli press from reporting Mr. Makhoul’s arrest or any of the related circumstances or procedures, until the “gag order” was lifted on May 9 following appeals filed by Adalah and others against the court-ordered ban on May 7.

Mr. Ameer Makhoul has been subjected to ongoing measures of harassment and intimidation in relation to his human rights activities, particularly during and after the Israeli ground, air and naval offensive in the Gaza Strip, which took place from December 27, 2008 until January 18, 2009[4]. On January 8, 2009, ten days after Mr. Makhoul gave a speech in Haifa protesting the then-ongoing attack on Gaza, two ISA officers forcibly escorted him from Ittijah’s headquarters to a police station where he was interviewed for three hours. During this interrogation, Mr. Makhoul was told that he would be imprisoned if “he continued his political work”.

The Observatory expresses its deepest concern about the above-mentioned acts against Mr. Ameer Makhoul, which seem to merely aim at sanctioning his human rights activities, and calls upon the Israeli authorities to release him immediately and unconditionally. The Observatory recalls that Mr. Makhoul's case is only one amidst an escalated campaign of arbitrary restrictions placed by Israeli authorities against Palestinian human rights defenders. These restrictions include arbitrary arrests, raids, deportations, travel bans, visa denials and media attacks against human rights organisations.

The Observatory further urges embassies of EU Member States in Israel and in the Occupied Palestinian Territory to follow Mr. Ameer Makhoul’s case and to attend all the hearings on his case in accordance with the EU Guidelines on Human Rights Defenders, as well as to urge the Israeli authorities to comply with the relevant international norms and standards, including the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, in order to create an environment where human rights defenders can operate freely.

Actions requested:

Please write to the authorities in Israel urging them to:

1. Guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of Mr. Ameer Makhoul and of all human rights defenders in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory;
2. Release Mr. Ameer Makhoul immediately and unconditionally since his arrest is arbitrary as it seems to only aim at sanctioning his human rights activities;
3. Put an end to any kind of harassment - including at the administrative level - against Mr. Ameer Makhoul as well as against all human rights defenders in Israel and the OPT and ensure in all circumstances that they are able to carry out their work without unjustified hindrances;
4. Comply with the provisions of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by the General Assembly on December 9, 1998, in particular Article 1, which states that “everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to promote and to strive for the protection and realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels”, and Article 12(2), which provides that “the State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually or in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the [...] Declaration”;
5. More generally, ensure in all circumstances the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms throughout the country and the OPT in accordance with international human rights instruments ratified by Israel, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the UN Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

Addresses:

• Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister, Office of the Prime Minister, 3 Kaplan Street, PO Box 187, Kiryat Ben-Gurion, Jerusalem 91919, Israel. Fax: + 972 2 651 2631 / 02-670-5475, E-mail: rohm@pmo.gov.il, pm_eng@pmo.gov.il
• Mr. Eli Yisha, Minister of the Interior, 2 Kaplan St., Qiryat Ben-Gurion, P.O. Box 6158, 91061 Jerusalem, Israel. Tel: +972 (0)2 670 1411
• Mr. Yehuda Weinstein, Attorney General, 29 Salah A-Din St., Jerusalem, 91010, Israel. Tel. +972 (0)2 646 6521/2, Fax: +972 (0)2 6467001
• Mr. Ehud Barak, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence, Ministry of Defence, 37 Kaplan Street, Hakirya, Tel Aviv 61909, Israel. Fax: +972 3 691 6940, Email: minister@mod.gov.il
• Mr. Avigdor Lieberman, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 9 Yitzhak Rabin Boulevard, Kiryat Ben-Gurion, Jerusalem 91035, Israel. Fax: +972 2 628 7757 / +972 2 628 8618 / + 972-2-5303367. Email: sar@mfa.gov.il
• Mr. Yaakov Ne’eman, Minister of Justice, Ministry of Justice, 29 Salah al-Din Street, Jerusalem 91010, Israel. Fax: + 972 2 628 7757 / + 972 2 628 8618 / + 972 2 530 3367. Email: sar@justice.gov.il / tifereth@justice.gov.il
• Ambassador Aharon Leshno-Yaar, Permanent Mission of Israel to the United Nations in Geneva, Avenue de la Paix 1-3, CH-1202, Geneva, Switzerland, E-mail: mission-israel@geneva.mfa.gov.il, Fax: +41 22 716 05 55
• Embassy of Israel in Brussels, 40 avenue de l’Observatoire, 1180 Uccle, Belgium, Fax: + 32 2 373 56 17, Email: brussels@israel.org

Please also write to the diplomatic mission or embassy of Israel in your respective country as well as to the EU diplomatic missions or embassies in Israel.

Geneva-Paris, May 10, 2010

Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.

The Observatory, a FIDH and OMCT venture, is dedicated to the protection of Human Rights Defenders and aims to offer them concrete support in their time of need. The Observatory was the winner of the 1998 Human Rights Prize of the French Republic.

To contact the Observatory, call the emergency line:
E-mail: Appeals@fidh-omct.org
Tel and fax OMCT: + 41 (0) 22 809 49 39 / + 41 22 809 49 29
Tel and fax FIDH: + 33 (0) 1 43 55 25 18 / +33 1 43 55 18 80

[1] One officer, just as they were leaving, gave Mr. Makhoul's wife his name and ID number.

[2] Israeli law provides that Israeli citizens can be held in custody for a maximum of 24 hours before being brought before a judge. An Israeli citizen accused of a security offense (almost always Palestinians with Israeli citizenship) can be held for four days before going before a judge.

[3] On April 22, 2010, Mr. Makhoul intended to exit Israel on his way to Jordan and then several additional countries for meetings with a range of civil society organisations and their representatives. After presenting his passport at the Israeli passport control desk, he was informed that the Israel Interior Minister had issued an order the previous day forbidding him to leave the country. In the order, the Israeli Minister of the Interior states: “I have reached the conviction that the exit of Ameer Makhoul from the country poses a serious threat to the security of the state, and therefore I issue this order to prevent him from leaving the country until the 21st of June, 2010” according to article 6 of the 1948 Emergency Regulations.

[4] As the UN Fact Finding Mission noted in its September 2009 report, this period was marked by widespread intimidation and humiliation by Israeli authorities of Palestinian community leaders.