Israel has extended for a second time the illegal administrative detention order against Omar Nazzal, a member of the general secretariat of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS). On April 23, Israeli forces arrested Nazzal at the Al-Karama (Allenby) Border Crossing, which links the Palestinian Authority to the Kingdom of Jordan, as the newsman was setting out on a trip to Bosnia to attend an international conference of journalists. Since that time he has been imprisoned under an decree of administrative detention, the means which Israel customarily uses to illegally hold a prisoner without seeing itself obliged to adhere to the writ of habeas corpus, neither informing the detainee of the charges against him or her or bringing the detained person before a judge.

Nazzal’s wife Marlene Rabadi posted on Facebook: “We were informed today that Omar’s administrative detention has been extended by three months,” indicating that this three month extension is the second consecutive one to have been issued against her husband. Rabadi revealed that Nazzal, who is being held in solitary confinement in Israel’s Ofer Military Prison in the occupied West Bank, was supposed have been released today, Monday, August 22.

Palestinian journalists protest outside the Ofer Military Prison, near the West Bank city of Ramallah, calling for the release of Palestinian journalist Omar Nazzal. (Photo: Issam Rimawi)

Rabadi wrote that Israeli authorities haven’t provided her or anyone else from Nazzal’s family any information about the state of her husband’s health, even though he has been on a hunger strike for 16 consecutive days, undertaken in solidarity with another Palestinian political prisoner, Bilal Kayed, also being held in administrative detention and who has been on a hunger strike in protest of his detention since June 13. Nazzal’s wife also pointed out that the Red Cross and her husband’s lawyer have been barred from visiting her husband since August 4. Human rights institutions have condemned the arrest of Nazzal and have declared it a violation of journalists’ rights. They have urged the UN Security Council and the EU along with all concerned journalistic syndicates to work for the freeing of Palestinian newsmen from Israeli prisons.

According to the Palestinian Ma’an News Agency, the UN Coordinator for Humanitarian Assistance and Development Aid in the occupied Palestinian territory, Robert Piper, said he was “deeply concerned” about the declining health of hunger striking Palestinian prisoners protesting their administrative detentions, and called on Israel to release or charge all detainees “without delay.” “I am deeply concerned about the deteriorating health of Palestinian detainee Bilal Kayed, after 67 days of a hunger strike protesting his detention without charge or trial,” Piper said in a statement released by the UN agency on Saturday, August 20.

“This is an egregious case, in which Mr. Kayed was placed on administrative detention on the day of his scheduled release after completing a 14.5 year prison sentence.” Piper highlighted the fact the some 100 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons across the country have since launched hunger strikes in solidarity with Kayed against administrative detention and prolonged solitary confinement, including journalist Nazzal. “The number of administrative detainees is at an eight-year high. I reiterate the United Nations’ long-standing position that all administrative detainees – Palestinian or Israeli – should be charged or released without delay.” Israel’s controversial policy of administrative detention is used primarily against Palestinians, who are held without trial or being charged for renewable periods of up to six-months at a time.

Piper’s statement came amid reports that Israel’s Supreme Court is to hold a hearing today (Monday) over the release of Kayed from administrative detention, in light of what Issa Qaraqe, from the Palestinian Committee of Prisoners’ Affairs, termed “a ticking time bomb” when addressing the current state of hunger-striking Kayed’s health.

Related:

Posts on the Palestinian political prisoner, the journalist Omar Nazzal

Posts on the Palestinian political prisoner, Bilal Kayed