2019-10-09

Hebron

Human Rights Defenders / West Bank

His Excellency Attorney General, Adv. Akram Al-Khatib,

His Excellency the Head of the military judiciary, General. Ismael Farraj,

Subject: The Phenomena of Refraining from Implementing Court Rulings and Governor-Ordered Detentions Persist as Means of Avoiding Obedience

MUSAWA- the Palestinian Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession extends its warmest greetings to you, noting that on 6/10/2019, the center received a written complaint from Tayseer Nader Jaber Ikhlawi, from Ithna, the Hebron district, reporting that his brother Mosa'ab is still being detained by the General Investigation Service after he was respectively arrested by the Director of Operations at the Hebron District Police and the Preventive Security Service. He added in his complaint that his brother is being subjected to torture, Shabeh, humiliation, extortion, and threats from the custodial staff, which prompted him to attempt suicide. In addition, the custodial Staff exerted pressure on his detainee brother to buy a weapon and hand it over to the security services, in return for mitigating the torture he was being subjected to, according to the complaint, which was accompanied by audio clips, along with the complainant’s acknowledgment of the content if his complaint regarding the detention and torture of his brother for possession of a weapon.

The complainant stated that the Hebron Magistrate Court had ordered his brother's release by virtue of a decision issued on 02/10/2019. However, the custodial staff refused to implement the court's decision, claiming that he was arrested on possession and trade of ammunition without a permit; he then filed a request for the release on bail with the same court that ordered his release, which issued a second decision to release him on 10/03/10/2019, "The two decisions are attached to this note". Once again, the complainant and his relatives were surprised that the persons in charge of their brother’s detention did not abide by the court's decision and continued to arrest him at the request of the governor.

MUSAWA believes that the contents of this complaint, if true, entail a serious violation of the provisions of existing laws, inclusion the Basic Law, the Judicial Authority Law, and the international conventions and covenants, in addition to the governor's derogation from his powers of arrest as provided for in the Jordanian Criminal Prevention Law, which was abolished under the Basic Law and the Code of Criminal Procedure, since it contradicts with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which the State of Palestine is bound, and limits the excise of the power of arrest to disengage clashes that would threaten public security or civil peace. MUSAWA also points out that granting the governors the authority to administrative detention does not fall under the umbrella of then mentioned non-constitutional law, as it represents outdated legislation that has been outpaced by the international community, except for the Israeli occupation. In reference to the provisions of the national legislation in force, governors do not have the power of arrest for a period exceeding (24 hours).

MUSAWA considers that ordered arrests constitute a breach of the powers and authorities of the Public Prosecution, courts and the Judicial Authority in General, and a practice of administrative detention, which, according to the philosophy of the Basic Law, constitutes a detention of freedom, an attempt to refrain from, disrupt or impede the implementation of court decisions, which, according to the provisions of articles 106 of the Basic Law and Article 82 of the Judicial Authority Act, is a crime punishable by imprisonment, dismissal from office and compensation, and a waste and prejudice of the principles of the State of Law and the separation of powers, which involves gross violation of human rights that may fall under the umbrella of corruption crimes, this is in addition to the allegations that deserve serious consideration and immediate legal action, particularly the allegations of torture, extortion and detention under humiliating conditions that would affect the complainant brother’s right to life.

MUSAWA reiterates its demand that your powers and authorities should be exercised with a view to obliging the judicial police, including the security services, not to overstep their powers and to comply with judicial decisions, since their enforcement is a binding obligation by the force of the Basic Law, thus, we call upon you to observe the governor’s use of the so-called “arrests ordered by governors” in this particular incident, considering that it poses an impediment to the execution of the court ruling, abuse of power, a serious threat to the right to life and human dignity, and compliance with the interest of some security personnel to justify their failure to implement judicial rulings and decisions. 

With All Due Respect,

Issued on 9/10/2019

The Legal Monitoring Officer

Adv. Angham Mansour

Attachments:

- The Complaint.

- The release order issued by Dura’s Magistrate Court 2/10/2019

- The release order issued by Dura’s Magistrate Court 3/10/2019