June 3, 2005

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.

Brief description of the situation:

The Observatory has been informed by Al-Haq, a Palestinian NGO, about the arbitrary detention of Mr. Ziyad Muhammad Shehadeh Hmeidan, one of its fieldworkers.

According to the information received, Mr. Ziyad Muhammad Shehadeh Hmeidan was arrested on May 23, 2005, at around 16.30, while he was trying to cross through Qalandiya, a checkpoint between Ramallah and Jerusalem. The Israeli soldiers entered his ID number into their computer, pulled him aside and placed handcuffs on him.

When two Al-Haq staff members came though Qalandiya at 19.00 as they were going back home, Mr. Hmeidan was still there. The two remained there with him, talking to him and asking questions to the soldiers, for about an hour. Around 19.30, the soldiers took him away to a room at the checkpoint, ostensibly because it was getting cold, but it is also believed that it was to stop them from speaking with him. One of Al-Haq staff members asked one of the Israeli forces where they were taking him; he replied that he was a border guard, not a soldier, and that he did not know. The other asked why he was being detained, and was told that it was none of her business.

Mr. Hmeidan was due to appear before a military court of the Moscobiyya detention center, in Jerusalem, on May 31, 2005. However, the hearing was brought forward by the Israeli authorities to May 30, 2005. On that date, the judge ordered that Mr. Hmeidan be held for another 18 days for investigation; he was sent back to the Moscobiyya detention center (also known as the Russian Compound), where he was detained since May 27, 2005. No charges were filed against him, but Israeli security officials indicated that there was a file on him, and there seemed to be discussions of "secret evidence". On June 2, 2005, a lawyer tried to visit Mr. Hmeidan in Moscobiyya, but he was denied access.

The Observatory fears that six days in this facility has placed Mr. Hmeidan at great risk of ill-treatment or torture by the Israeli authorities. Further, on May, 30, 2005, an "Order Prohibiting Meeting with Counsel" was issued in his case, stating that Mr. Hmeidan was banned from meeting with legal counsel for eight days, starting at 13.30 on May, 30, 2005 and ending at 23.59 on June 5, 2005, on the basis of Military Order 378 of 1970. Mrs. Leah Tsemel, a well-known Israeli lawyer specialised in the defence of Palestinians detainees, decided to take up the case of Mr. Hmeidan.

This order places him in grave risk of "moderate physical pressure" by the General Security Services during their interrogation. According to the information received, this practice was outlawed by the Israeli High Court in 1999, in PCATI v. State of Israel. However, despite this ruling, such "permits" are still granted in the interrogation of some detainees, which gravely violates article 1 of the UN Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which Israel ratified in 1991.

Actions requested:

Please write to the authorities in Israel urging them to:

1. guarantee the physical and psychological integrity of Mr. Ziyad Muhammad Shehadeh Hmeidan, and in particular ensure that Mr. Hmeidan is not subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or torture during his detention;
2. order the immediate release of Mr. Hmeidan in the absence of valid legal charges, and if such charges exist, ensure that he is given a prompt and fair trial, in which his procedural rights are guaranteed at all times;
3. comply with the provisions of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, in particular article 1, which states that "everyone has the right, individually or in association with others, to promote and to strive for the protection and realisation 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 present Declaration";
4. more generally, ensure in all circumstances respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms throughout the country and the Occupied Palestinian Territories in accordance with international human rights standards, including the UN Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
   
   

Addresses:

• Mr. Ariel Sharon, Prime Minister, Office of the Prime Minister, 3 Kaplan Street, PO Box 187, Kiryat Ben-Gurion, Jerusalem 91919, Israel. Fax: + 972 2 651 2631, E-mail: rohm@pmo.gov.il, pm_eng@pmo.gov.il
• Mr. Tzipi Livni, Minister of Justice, Fax: + 972 2 628 7757; + 972 2 628 8618
• Mr. Yair Lotstein, Legal Advisor to the Israeli Army in the West Bank, Fax: 972 2 997 7326
• Mr. Menahem Mazuz, Attorney General, Fax: + 972 2 627 4481; + 972 2 628 5438; + 972 2 530 3367
• Ambassador Itzhak Levanon, Permanent Mission of Israel to the United Nations in Geneva, Av. de la Paix 1-3, CH-1202, Geneve, Switzerland, e-mail: mission-israel@geneva.mfa.gov.il, mission-israel@gva.mfa.gov.il, fax: +4122 716 05 55
  
  

Please also write to the embassies of Israel in your respective country.

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Geneva - Paris, June 3, 2005