2022-09-19

West Bank

West Bank / Announcement / Core Program / position paper

Honorable Attorney General Akram Al-Khateeb,

Your Excellency the Head of the Human Rights Unit in the Public Prosecution, Mr. Jamil Sajdiya,

MUSAWA - The Palestinian Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession extends its gratitude for the invitation to attend and participate in the meeting that will be held at the headquarters of the Public Prosecution in Ramallah on September 12, 2022. The purpose of the meeting is to strengthen cooperation between the Human Rights Unit of the Public Prosecution and human rights organizations so that citizens can enjoy and defend their rights. Even though the Center looks forward to persevering in the collective effort to achieve the meeting's goals and objectives, it wishes to inform you that it has received a written complaint dated 9/19/2022 from Jad Muhareb Muhammad Shaalout's lawyer Muhamed Harini. The complaint is about the refusal of a police chief to carry out the release order of the lawyer’s client (the detainee) based on the Public Prosecution’s decision issued in the investigation file No. (4118/2022). Bearing in mind that the Public Prosecution’s decision in such a case is similar to the judicial decision and refraining from implementing it, impeding its implementation, or refusing to implement it in any way is considered a crime in accordance with the explicit text of the Basic Law in Article (106) and the Judicial Authority Law in Article (82), as is clearly stated in the text of the Basic Law: “Judicial rulings shall be implemented. Refraining from or obstructing the implementation of a judicial ruling in any manner whatsoever shall be considered a crime carrying a penalty of imprisonment or dismissal from position if the accused individual is a public official or assigned to public service. The aggrieved party may file a case directly to the competent court and the National Authority shall guarantee a fair remedy for him”.

The complaint is about the police chief of ... who refused to carry out the release order handed to him and instead laid an additional charge against the detainee, even though the complaint was attached to a search and investigation form issued by the Ramallah and Al-Bireh Governorate Police Director. The form ensures no obstruction from police departments and branches, including the judicial police, general investigations, drug control and the department of Investigation, traffic, family protection, and tourism, for the decision to release the detainee. Therefore, it refutes the charge laid by the police chief to prevent the implementation of the Public Prosecutors decision issued on 9/18/2022 by the public prosecutor of …. MUSAWA notes that the complaint, the subject of the memo, was sent by the attorney at-law to many civil society organizations, and to the honorable attorney general.

Based on the mission and tasks of your unit, the protection of human rights requires dealing with them from a constitutional and human rights perspective, in line with article (10) and article (32) of the Basic Law, which consider the fundamental human rights and freedoms legally binding and should be respected as stated in the first paragraph of Article 10. It states that violation of any human right is considered a crime and any criminal or civil lawsuits resulting from it are not subject to the statute of limitations, and the national authority shall guarantee a fair remedy to those who suffer from such damage as stated in article (32) of the basic law. Accordingly, this expands your unit’s scope of work to include more than just the torture crimes, for which the center will provide you with any allegations or complaints it documents or receives in that respect. The center reiterates its request to be approved as one of the monitoring institutions or bodies that have the right to visit the detention centers and all the different prisons.

Thus, we ask you to consider this memo and take the legal requirement regarding its facts, including the prompt release of the detainee Jad Mohareb Muhammad Shalout, and conduct an administrative investigation to ensure that all those who obstructed the implementation of the release order are held accountable, and to be duly informed about the measures taken in this regard.

With respect,

19/09/2022

MUSAWA