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How Israel jails hundreds of Palestinians without charge
Human rights groups say Israel is abusing a security law inherited from the British to strip due process.
www.bbc.co.uk
EXTRACTS DUE TO LONG ARTICLE:
"Under international law, administrative detention should be a rare exception," said Jessica Montell, the executive director of HaMoked, an Israeli human rights organisation that monitors detention of Palestinians.
"You are supposed to use it when there is a present danger and no other way to prevent that danger than detaining someone. But it is clear Israel is not using it that way. It is detaining hundreds, thousands of people, without charge, and using administrative detention to shield itself from scrutiny."
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Administrative detainees are granted a hearing - at a military court, in front of an Israeli military judge - but the state is not required to disclose any of its evidence to the detainees or their lawyers. The detainees can then be sentenced to up to six months. But the six months can be extended indefinitely by the military court, meaning that administrative detainees have no real idea at any point how long they are going to be locked up.
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"Defending Palestinians in the military courts is an almost impossible task," said Jerusalem-based defence lawyer Maher Hanna.
"The entire system is designed to limit a Palestinian's capacity to defend himself. It imposes harsh constraints on the defence and relieves the state prosecutor of the burden of proof."
Israel's use of the policy in the West Bank had "crossed all lines - red, green, every colour", Yazen's mother Sadiah said.
"We are living under a parallel system of justice."
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As far as I can tell, USA held around 775 in Guantanamo under similar policies. They've released 480 and want to charge some of the others.
Even after all the releases, Israel still holds 2,873 people (many children) in administrative detention.
Are charges really so hard to bring?
