Addameer Lawyer Salah Hamouri Conditionally Released by Court

/ July 9, 2020

Salah Hamouri, a lawyer for Adameer, the Palestinian Prisoner and Human Rights Association, was conditionally released from detention on Tuesday, July 8, by the Israeli Court of First Instance, after he had been arrested on June 30 in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem. On July 1, Hamouri’s detention was extended for another seven days, despite appeals by Adameer to deny this, so that his interrogation by Israel’s police and security services could continue at the Russian Compound in West Jerusalem.

Hamouri, a Palestinian-French human rights defender and field researcher for Addameer was arrested as he was taking a mandatory COVID-19 test before traveling to France to visit his wife and son. This was his fifth arrest by Israel, and he has already spent several years in detention, some of this time behind bars based on sentences he received and others for arbitrary administrative detention.

Hamouri’s conditional release included a bail payment of NIS 2,000 (shekels), a personal financial guarantee of NIS 1,000, and a third-party financial guarantee of NIS 1,000. It also involved prohibiting Salah’s communicating with a number of individuals for a total period of 90 days ending on October 7. Additionally, Salah had to commit to attending any court or interrogation sessions when needed or called upon.

Following Hamouri’s arrest at the end of June, Hadash issued a statement condemning his detention and demanding his immediate release, stating that the lawyer’s imprisonment is an integral part of Israel’s policy of political arrests designed to destabilize the Palestinian domestic situation, pursue and persecute Palestinian activists and leaders, and interfere in Palestinian organizations on the eve of the its planned annexation of occupied territories in the West Bank.

Because Hamouri is a citizen of France, the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs issued the following statement following his arrest on June 30: “France requests that all of Salah Hamouri’s rights be upheld. Our Consulate General in Jerusalem is ensuring that our compatriot can fully benefit from consular protection as provided for by the 1963 Vienna Convention. The ministry for and its diplomatic and consular network are seeking clarifications regarding the reasons for his arrest, maintaining close contract with Mr. Hamouri’s relatives and interceding with the Israeli authorities to ensure that the situation of Mr. Hamouri and his wife is resolved as swiftly as possible. Mr. Hamouri’s situation is being closely monitored at a high level by the French authorities.”

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