On 1 January 2009, Salwa Salah and Sara Siureh were finally released from administrative detention after spending seven months in Addamoun prison inside Israel.

Salwa and Sara were both arrested from their homes in the West Bank town of Bethlehem on 5 June 2008. Salwa and Sara are both cousins. Salwa is in her final year at high school. She is due to take her ‘Tawjihi’ (university entrance exam) this year; however, as schools have already begun in the Occupied Territory, she will have to repeat another year upon her release.

 

This was the first time that girls under the age of 18 had been put in administrative detention. On 12 June 2008 they were issued with military administrative detention orders. The orders had been set for four months (in respect of Salwa) and five months (in respect of Sara). A military court confirmed the orders on 18 June. An appeal hearing also confirmed the orders on 16 July although Sara’s sentence was reduced from five to four months. They were due to be released on 4 October 2008. On 5 October 2008 both girls were issued with a second administrative detention order. On 6 October 2008 a judicial review of the administrative detention order took place.  The military judge (Eyal Noon) upheld the order for a further three months from 4 October 2008 until 3 January 2009.  The military judge claimed the girls were still ‘dangerous’ despite the fact that the military prosecutor had provided no information since the girls were arrested.  Following this renewal, Addameer immediately appealed to the Israeli High Court.

 

On 14 December 2008 Addameer Attorney Sahar Francis received a phone call from the Israeli High Court informing her that the Military Prosecutors would not be renewing the administrative detention of Salwa and Sarah once the current order ends.

 

Neither Salwa and Sara, nor their lawyer, were ever informed of any charges against them, nor the reason for their arrest and detention, thereby violating fundamental due process rights and rendering their entire detention arbitrary and illegal under international law. In addition, their detention conditions failed to meet fundamental human rights standards for the treatment of prisoners.  For example, Salwa was denied the right to education while in prison.

 

While we celebrates the girls’ release, we remind the international community that over 600 Palestinians are currently being held without charge or trial in administrative detention of which six are children.

 

Addameer and DCI-Palestine continue to urge the Israeli authorities to:

Finally Addameer and DCI-Palestine would like to express a heartfelt and sincere thank you to everyone who took action on behalf of Salwa and Sara.

 

For further information on administrative detention and ways in which you can take action please contact addameer@p-ol.com  or ria@dci-pal.org

 

Defence for Children International - Palestine Section
Al-Sartawi Building, Al-Khoulafa’ Str. Al-Bireh/Ramallah
Tel: 972 (0)2 242 7537
Fax: 972 (0)2 242 7018
Postal Address: PO Box 55201, Jerusalem
Email: ria@dci-pal.org 
Website: www.dci-pal.org