News / Palestine

Palestinian administrative detainees snub Israeli courts for 69th day

Thursday, 10 March 2022 6:44 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 10 March 2022 6:44 PM ]

The file photo shows Palestinian prisoners in the yard of Israel's Megiddo prison. (Photo by AFP)

Palestinian prisoners held without trial or charge in Israeli jails have passed day 69 of a boycott of Israel’s military courts.

About 500 of the detainees have been refusing to show up for their military court hearings, rights advocates said on Thursday, the Palestinian Information Center reported.

The boycott movement started in early January. It includes initial hearings to uphold the administrative detention order, as well as appeal hearings and later sessions at the Israeli ‘supreme court.’

“Israeli military courts are an important aspect for the occupation in its system of oppression,” the detainees said, according to the report, describing the courts as a “barbaric, racist tool that has consumed hundreds of years from the lives of our people under the banner of administrative detention, through nominal and fictitious courts.”

The prisoners say Israel’s use of the policy has expanded in recent years to include women, children and the elderly.

Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners are held under administrative detention, in which Israel keeps the detainees without charge for up to six months, a period which can be extended an infinite number of times. The detention takes place on orders from a military commander and on the basis of what the Israeli regime describes as ‘secret’ evidence. Some prisoners have been held in administrative detention for up to 11 years.

Rights groups say Israel’s use of administrative detention is a “bankrupt tactic.”

Systematic torture, harassment and repression are all examples of the fashion in which the Israeli prison authorities treat Palestinian prisoners. The Israeli Prison Service (IPS) keeps the prisoners under deplorable conditions lacking proper hygienic standards.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk