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UN Human Rights Special Rapporteurs on Torture, on Violence Against Women, on Arbitrary Detention all call for the immediate release of tortured Palestinian woman hunger striker Heba Labadi

inminds
31 October 2019

GENEVA (31 October 2019) – UN human rights experts* called on Israel to immediately release Heba Al-Labadi, a Palestinian woman with Jordanian nationality, who was placed in solitary confinement after an Israeli military court sentenced her to administrative detention without trial.

According to information received by the experts, Israeli security forces arrested Ms. Al-Labadi at the Allenby Bridge border crossing on 20 August 2019 while she was travelling with her family to attend a wedding in Jenin. Following her arrest, she was subjected to 30 days of interrogation in the Petah Tikva interrogation centre. During her interrogation, which sometimes extended to 20 hours a day, she was tied to a chair and placed in a painful position.

"We are gravely concerned that Ms. Al-Labadi was subjected to treatment during her interrogation that could amount to torture and ill-treatment," the experts said. "We are especially troubled by the fact that Ms. Al Labadi was denied access to a lawyer for a period of three weeks and has not yet been allowed to see her family."

On 24 September, an Israeli military court sentenced Ms. Al-Labadi to five months of administrative detention, and transferred her to Kishon detention facility (Al-Jalamah), where she was held in solitary confinement. The charges or evidence against Ms. Al-Labadi were not communicated to her nor were they made public, the experts said.

Following her sentencing, Ms. Al-Labadi launched a hunger strike, which is currently in its sixth week. As a result, she has been suffering from several medical conditions. On 27 October she was admitted to hospital in Haifa.

"Ms. Al-Labadi’s deteriorating health as a result of her protest is of serious concern," the experts said. "The use of solitary confinement against Ms. Al-Labadi for 30 consecutive days during her administrative detention is not a legitimate instrument of a State as it may cause severe mental and physical pain and suffering." UN experts have previously stated that prolonged periods of solitary confinement may amount to torture.

Administrative detention is widely used by Israel as an alternative to criminal proceedings, especially in cases where there is insufficient evidence to charge the person. While administrative detention as such is not prohibited under international law, it is permitted only in exceptional circumstances and subject to stringent safeguards. Israel practices a form of administrative detention that relies on the use of secret evidence, fails to provide reasons for the arrest, allows for indefinite detention through consecutive administrative detention orders without charges or trials and is often based on military jurisdiction, among others.

"We call on Israel to abolish this form of administrative detention, where individuals are deprived of core due process guarantees," the experts said. "Israel’s wide practice of administrative detention is incompatible with international humanitarian law and international human rights law."

ENDS

(*) The UN experts:

• Mr. José Antonio Guevara Bermúdez (Mexico), Chair Rapporteur of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention;
  
• Ms Agnes Callamard (France), Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions;
  
• Mr. Michael Lynk (Canada), Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967,
  
• Mr. Nils Melzer (Switzerland),Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment;
  
• Ms Meskerem Geset Techane (Ethiopia), Chair Rapporteur of the Working Group on discrimination against women and girls,
  
• Ms Dubravka Simonovic (Croatia), Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences.
  

The Special Rapporteurs are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name of the Council's independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent from any government or organisation and serve in their individual capacity.

Source: https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=25236

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