Description

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- The Israeli military court of Ofer prison issued administrative detention orders against several Palestinian prisoners on Thursday.

The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society said in a statement that the court sentenced Sanad Ammad Abdullah to six months of administrative detention, while Muhammad Khalid Madani, Muhammad Youssef Awad, and Muhammad Fouad Uweis were each sentenced to four months.

Prisoners Awad Munir Haddush and Wael Rafat Allan were sentenced to three months of administrative detention and Alaa Salem Rajabi was sentenced to two months.

The court lessened the sentence of prisoner Muhammad Ahmad al-Najjar from six months to four-and-a-half months, and also reduced the sentence of Samer Hilmi from four months to three.

Israel’s policy of administrative detention -- internment without charge or trial for three to six-month renewable intervals based on undisclosed evidence -- has been widely condemned by the international community.

Although Israeli authorities claim the withholding of evidence during administrative detention is essential for state security concerns, rights groups have claimed that the policy allows Israeli authorities to hold Palestinians for an indefinite period of time without showing any evidence that could justify their detentions.

Rights groups have charged Israel with using its policy of administrative detention, which is almost exclusively used against Palestinians, as a way of eroding Palestinian democracy and family life, while enabling Israeli authorities to detain Palestinian activists and public figures for extended periods of time without evidence of any wrongdoing.

As of October, Palestinian prisoners' rights group Addameer reported that 7,000 Palestinians were held in Israeli prisons, 720 of whom were being held in administrative detention.