Following Petition: 138 Asylum-Seekers to Be Released After More Than Two Years in Administrative Detention

Last week, the legal team of Hotline submitted a petition to Israel’s Supreme Court requesting the release of 138 asylum seekers being held in the Holot detention center in the Negev. This group includes the veterans of Holot. Most of them arrived in Israel in the summer of 2012 and were detained in the Saharonim Prison Facility. When, in September 2013, the third Anti-Infiltration law was overturned by the court, these asylum seekers thought their freedom was within reach. But when they exited Saharonim in December, they were simply taken across the road to another prison – Holot.

Asylum-seekers protest in Tel-Aviv against detention centers in the Negev (Photo: Activestills)

Asylum-seekers protest in Tel-Aviv against detention centers in the Negev (Photo: Activestills)

According to Hotline activists: “When we overturned the Fourth Anti-Infiltration law last month, we maintained that a window of opportunity for change had opened. Last week we finally got to see some of that change. The state committed itself to releasing 138 asylum seekers. These people are not criminals, they have not been charged with any crime, and yet most of them have been in prison for two a half years. That’s 345 years of wasted life.”

Yusuf Zakaria, a survivor of the Darfur genocide and one of the 138 asylum seekers released had this to say: “I didn’t think this day would ever happen, so I am very happy and relieved, but at the same time I am still afraid. I worry about what will happen next, that I might find myself in prison again. I pray that I will be able to live in peace while I am waiting for an answer to my asylum request.”