Alternative Information Center Staff Member Ahmad Abu Hannya Placed in Administrative Detention

Ahmad Abu Hannya, staff member of the Alternative Information Center, was detained by the Israeli army on 22 May 2005 on his way to work. After a few days the Israeli army decided to place him under administrative detention for six months, and he was transferred to the notorious Offer Camp. Ahmad is still being held at the Offer Camp without charge to this very day.

Ahmad Abu Hannya was born in 1973 in the Palestinian village Dar of Salah, south of Bethlehem. Following completion of elementary school in his village, Ahmad graduated with a diploma in design from the Design Center in Beit Sahour and studied Business Management at Al Quds Open University until his arrest.

Ahmad’s natural talent for drawing became apparent already in elementary school, and professional courses and life under occupation served to further his artistic skills. Ahmad particularly enjoys drawing and portraying themes related to landscapes and portraits.

As the eldest son among six siblings, Ahmad took financial care of his family, particularly after the retirement of his father.

In 1998, Ahmad joined the Alternative Information Center, a joint Palestinian-Israeli organization, as a volunteer in its Bethlehem office. He worked with the local Palestinian youth, both raising their and his own awareness of the local political realities, and in 2002 joined the AIC staff as the youth project coordinator. As an AIC worker, Ahmad had excellent relations with everyone on staff and always demonstrated his readiness to learn and to live in common with the others, regardless of religion or gender. Ahmad is a strong defender of human rights and advocate for freedom, and he built a wide range of networks with progressive young Israelis, international solidarity delegations, the Palestinian youth in the West bank and 1948 Palestinians.

The AIC is urging people to write letters to "high ranking Israeli officials demanding that Ahmad’s administrative detention not be extended, and concerning the arrest of all Palestinian political prisoners held in Israeli jails. We further encourage you to write letters of support to Ahmad himself," say’s their website, before listing a number of addresses:

Mr. Shaul Mofaz,
Minister of Defence,
Ministry of Defence,
37 Kaplan St.,
Tel-Aviv 61909,
Israel.
E-mail: sar@mod.gov or pniot@mod.gov
Fax: ++972-3-696-27-57 / ++972-3-691-69-40 / ++972-3-691-79-15


Chief Military Attorney
Military postal code 9605, IDF
Israel
Fax: ++972-3-569-43-70


The department for administrative detention in Ofer camp
Military postal code 01649, IDF
Offer military prison 386
Israel
fax ++972-2-5884234

for writing to the Israeli representative in your country.
http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/ASPX_DIR/BalmasOnBoardEN.htm



Ahmad Abu Hannya
The alternative information center
POB 31417
Jerusalem 91313
Israel

Emails to Ahmad can be sent to
aic@alt-info.org
please write in the subject "to Ahmad Abu Hannya"

Information about administrative detention

Administrative detention is the imprisonment by administrative procedures of an individual without charge or trial. In the Palestinian Occupied Territories executive authority is held by the Israeli area military commander, who holds the power to authorize administrative detention against Palestinian residents.

The freedom from arbitrary arrest and detention is an integral part of international human rights law and is enshrined in both the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Article 10 of the Universal declaration enunciates an individual’s rights to due process:

"Everyone is entitled in full equality to fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him".

Despite this, the Israeli Government uses this kind of detention widely and intensively against Palestinians during this current Intifada and thousands of them have been arrested numerous times. Currently, approximately 600 Palestinians are held in administrative detention, tens of them for several years and about ten of them are children under the age of 18.

Israel's use of administrative detention blatantly violates restrictions placed on this act under international law. Over the years, Israel held Palestinians in prolonged detention without trying them and without informing them of the suspicions against them. While detainees may appeal the detention, neither they nor their attorneys are allowed to see the evidence. Israel has therefore made a charade out of the entire system of procedural safeguards in both domestic and international law regarding the right to liberty and due process.

Alternative Information Centre