2020-07-20

West Bank

Human Rights Defenders / West Bank / position paper

Unlawful Detention and Violation of the Constitutional Right and Duty to Combat Corruption

At the outset, it should be stated that standing up for corruption is a duty, that the right to participate in political mainstream is guaranteed to all citizens without discrimination, as provided in article 26 of the Basic Law, that the freedom of peaceful assembly and opinion are constitutionally protected, and that arrest and detention are prohibited and considered prejudice to the citizens’ freedom, if it was extrajudicially implemented, in violation of the right to citizenship and to deviate from the obligations of the Authority, as provided in article 10 of the Basic Law, which established the duty to respect and protect human rights.

Any infringement of these rights is an imprescriptible crime, noting that international covenants guaranteeing human rights, to which Palestine is bound, prohibit arrest against the backdrop of peaceful assembly against corruption and against deviating from the principles and rules of good governance, thus, such detention of community activists, who participated in a peaceful assembly against corruption, is unlawful, not to mentioned the calls for holding accountable those involved in it, since they contused to prejudicing a constitutional right.

Based on the forgoing, the detainees shall be released immediately, and legal and administrative measures shall be implemented to elucidate the manifestations of corruption, hold the corrupt officials accountable, which raises the need to observe the right to liberty and to prohibit limiting its exercise, except with a judicial order that considers fair trial procedures and guarantees, and guaranteed compensation for those affected by any unlawful detention, and to account those involved in such unlawful detentions pursuant to article 30 of the Basic Law.

Detention on the grounds of expression of opinion against corruption shall be prohibited, and the detainees of the Peaceful Community Movement against Corruption shall be released immediately.

Issued on 20/7/2020

MUSAWA