Salah Hamouri, Addameer’s field researcher and advocate for Palestinian prisoners’ rights, was arrested by Israeli occupation forces in a pre-dawn raid on his home in the neighborhood of Kufr Aqab on Wednesday, August 23. Later, Hamouri was taken to Russian Compound Israeli interrogation center in west Jerusalem, where his detention was extended until Sunday, August  27, for further interrogation.

Salah Hamouri (Photo: L’Humanite)

Hamouri, 32, is a Palestinian-French dual citizen and former Palestinian prisoner in Israeli jails. Hamouri was released in Gilad Shalit exchange deal in 2011 after spending seven years in Israeli occupation prisons. In addition, he was banned from entering the West Bank by an Israeli military order until September 2016, and his wife Elsa Lefort and son are currently banned from entering Palestine.

As a lawyer and legal advocate working with Addameer, Hamouri continues to campaign daily for rights and freedom for Palestinian prisoners and the Palestinian people. The Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association strongly condemns the continued targeting of Salah Hammouri and considers this to be an attack against Palestinian civil society organizations and human rights defenders. It also constitutes yet another arrest in the continuous and ongoing arrest campaign against Palestinians. Therefore, Addameer calls for the immediate release of Salah Hammouri and all Palestinian political prisoners.