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BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- An Israeli court on Thursday extended the detention of a human rights researcher arrested in the West Bank earlier this week.

The Jerusalem court ruled that Ayman Nasser stay under interrogation for another seven days based on secret evidence, the prisoners group he works for, Addameer, said in a statement.

Nasser, 42, was detained overnight Sunday from his home in the village of Saffa, west of Ramallah. He has been working as a researcher for Addameer since 2008, and is also a part-time lecturer in social work at Al-Quds University.

"Every human being has opinions and positions and if it’s not violating the law he can freely think and speak these opinions," Nasser told the court.

"I am a human rights defender who supports the Palestinian prisoners and I represent my opinions in the public media. My thoughts are not secret, they are public, and everyone knows them."

Nasser said interrogators have focused on his chairing of the Handala educational center in Saffa, which he argues is transparent and legally registered with the Palestinian Authority.

His lawyer Mahmoud Hassan questioned the court over Nasser's chronic medical conditions, and said he is only receiving two of the five medications he takes daily.

The judge referred the situation to the doctor at the Moskobiyyeh detention center in Jerusalem where Ayman is being held.

Addameer expressed concern about the referral to an Israeli prison medic, saying it has documented such doctors "systematically" using the withdrawal of medical treatment to pressure prisoners to comply with demands by Israeli intelligence.

Nasser previously spent six years in Israeli prisons and was released in 1997.
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