11 February 2015 - Ramallah

The occupation authorities issued a decision to release Ahmad Rimawi (20 years old) on Thursday, 12 February 2015, after 27 months under administrative detention without charge or trial. Rimawi is the currently the youngest administrative detainee who was arrested just days after his 18th birthday.

The decision to release Rimawi follows an appeal to the occupation’s High Court filed by Mahmoud Hassan, the director of the legal unit at Addameer. The prosecution proposed releasing Rimawi after the end of his last renewal order on condition that the High Court appeal be withdrawn. Prior, Addameer had submitted five appeals to Ofer Military Court and three appeals to the High Court before the release decision.

The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) issued an opinion at the seventy-first session regarding Rimawi’s detention stating: “The deprivation of the liberty of Mr. Rimawi is arbitrary… taking into account all the circumstances of the case, the adequate remedy would be to immediately release Mr. Rimawi.” (Opinion No.43/2014, 16 December 2014) The WGAD further stated that Rimawi’s detention is in contravention of articles 9 and 10 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and articles 9 and 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Rimawi was arrested on 17 November 2012 at Atara checkpoint near Ramallah. He initially received a 6-month administrative detention order which was renewed five consecutive times. Rimawi spent about 27 months under administrative detention, during which he joined the administrative detainees’ mass hunger strike. He was on an open hunger strike for 63 days.

Rimawi is one of 465 administrative detainees held in the occupation’s prison without charge or trial.

Administrative detention is a procedure that allows the Israeli military to hold detainees indefinitely on secret information without charging them or allowing them to stand trial. In the occupied Palestinian West Bank, the Israeli army is authorized to issue administrative detention orders against Palestinian civilians on the basis of Military Order 1651. This order empowers military commanders to detain an individual for up to six month renewable periods if they have “reasonable grounds to presume that the security of the area or public security require the detention.” On or just before the expiry date, the detention order is frequently renewed. This process can be continued indefinitely.