2016-08-31

Gaza

Gaza

Esteemed members of the Central Elections Commission,

Subject: Breach of the Provisions of the Local Elections Law

Breach details:

Lawyer Etidal Mohammad Abdul Rahman Al-Shami, a candidate under the Bloc of National Liberation and Building as part of the local elections to be held on 08/10, informed the local elections observer from Khan Yunis, Eman Hamdan Abdul Raheem Fayyad, who is registered in the local election-observers list on behalf of MUSAWA – The Palestinian Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession, which is duly approved by your esteemed commission, that on 29/08/2016 at 01:00 PM as she was leaving the headquarters of your commission in Khan Yunis with Dr. Ramadan Barakeh and Mr. Khaled Abu-Shab, and once they reached the main street they were surprised by three armed men kidnapping Dr. Ramadan Barakeh and threatening lawyer Etidal Al-Shami, who added that Dr. Ramadan Barakeh was found lying near Asdaa’ in Khan Yunis after he was beaten by the kidnappers. In a phone call with lawyer Iman Hamdan Abdul Raheem Fayyad (the local observer), Ms. Etidal confirmed that her husband and she were threatened and verbally abused in an attempt to force her to withdraw from the elections. The owner of her office was threatened as well.

MUSAWA – The Palestinian Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession, in its capacity as a local election-monitoring body duly approved by your esteemed commission, believe that this breach represents a departure from the provisions of the electoral law and violates a citizen’s right to participate in the electoral process and be elected; a constitutional right guaranteed by the Basic Law and electoral laws. We kindly hope that the necessary legal action would be taken by communicating with all of the relevant authorities to look into this complaint and ensure the arrest of the perpetrators, so as to ensure that the perpetrators will be held accountable on the one hand, and that the candidates will not be influenced or their rights will not be violated on the other hand.

With all due respect,

Issued on 31/08/2016      

                                                                     MUSAWA’s Coordinator

 Lawyer Ibrahim Barghouthi