Amnesty International Calls Jailing of Human Rights Defender in Israel “Very Disturbing”
(London) — Amnesty International urged the Israeli authorities to end their harassment of Palestinian human rights activists after a veteran Palestinian campaigner was jailed for nine years earlier today and given an additional one-year suspended sentence.
Ameer Makhoul, a longstanding Palestinian activist, was convicted on various counts of having contact with enemies of Israel and espionage after a plea bargain agreement at his trial. He was originally charged with an even more serious offense, “assisting an enemy in war”, which could have carried a life sentence, but that was dropped by the prosecution when he agreed to a plea bargain.
“Ameer Makhoul’s jailing is a very disturbing development and we will be studying the details of the sentencing as soon as we can,” said Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa deputy director.
“Ameer Makhoul is well known for his human rights activism on behalf of Palestinians in Israel and those living under Israeli occupation. We fear that this may be the underlying reason for his imprisonment.”
“We are also extremely concerned by allegations that he was tortured and otherwise ill-treated following his arrest on May 6 last year in a dawn police raid on his home in Haifa, by the fact that he was not permitted to see his lawyers for 12 days after his arrest, and by the gag order that prohibited media coverage on the case during this time.”
In the United States, Amnesty International USA urged President Obama to call on Israel to end the harassment of human rights defenders.
Under the Israeli penal code, people can be charged with “espionage” even if the information passed onto an “enemy agent” is publicly known and even if there is no intent to do harm through passing on the information.
The prosecution claimed that a Jordanian civil society activist who Makhoul was in contact with was a Hizbullah agent, and that he gave this person information on the locations of a military base and General Security Services offices.
The confession on which Makhoul’s conviction and sentencing were based was admitted as evidence by the court, despite allegations that this statement was made under duress and that he was tortured during his interrogation. It also appears that the information allegedly conveyed by Makhoul was publicly available.
Makhoul’s sentencing comes at a time when human rights activists are coming under increasing pressure in Israel and being accused by some in the government and by members of the Knesset of being “anti-Israel” and unpatriotic because of their reporting on and campaigning against human rights violations in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Makhoul is the director of Ittijah, the Union of Arab Community-Based Associations, based in Haifa.
Addameer, the Palestinian prisoner support group based in Ramallah called for the PA, EU and other western representatives to demand Makhoul’s release and to raise the prisoner-victim’s plight with Israeli officials at every meeting they hold.
I look forward to the uprising against the Saudi monarchy.
Sorry that was supposed to go under the birth pangs of a new middle east.
By the time the Palestinians realize that you can not be non-violent with Nazis (yes Israelis are Nazis). They will be completely destroyed, then you can all give them the Ghandi award.
No, Israelis are not Nazis.
I would never disagree with you on anything but this: ….Meron Benvenisti writes:
Atrocities and acts of brutality characterised this period: summary executions, rape, blowing up houses along with their occupants, looting and plundering, and leaving hundreds of villages to their own devices in the fields, without food or water. The most serious atrocities were committed in the village of Al-Dawayima on the western slopes of the Hebron Highlands. This large village, with a population of some 3,500 was taken on 29 October, 1948. The occupying forces indiscriminately killed between 80 and 100 males villagers, blew up houses together with their occupants, murdered women and children, and committed rape. According to eyewitness testimony, these acts were committed “not in the heat of battle and inflamed passions, but out of a system of expulsion and destruction. The fewer Arabs remained — the better.”
NAZIS, Sir
The truth is here: “On October 27, 2010 Haaretz reported that Ameer Makhoul, the director of Israeli-Arab NGO Ittijah, “confess[ed] to charges of spying, contact with a foreign agent and giving information to the enemy.” Makhoul, as head of Ittijah, has a background of anti-Israel activities characterized by demonisation and hate rhetoric. For example, an Ittijah email during the Gaza war claimed, “the IDF is turning Gaza into kind of an extermination camp, in the full sense of the word and with the full historical relativity.”
Amnesty International in London has had a succession of Israel-bashing speakers such as Ben White. I have offered them Ruvi Ziegler – an Israeli lawyer studying in Oxford who is an expert on the security fence – but they have stonewalled.
Shame on Amnesty International for its Israel-bashing biased agenda.
A Hebrew article shows that he passed on the names of six potential spies for Hezbollah as well as other information that was encrypted – showing that he had something to hide in his “innocent contacts.”
But when someone hates Israel and pretends to care about “human rights,” it appears that Amnesty will automatically side with him, no matter who it is.
Your comment is full of nonsense. I making an official warning which I will enforce. We’ve expended thousands of words on Makhoul. I will accept no more arguments presenting his alleged confession as a genuine, voluntarily offered statement of guilt. The next person who advances this argument which already 10 or more previous commenters have, will be moderated.
Saying that Gaza is an extermination camp is not grounds for imprisoning someone for nine years. Only in Israel or North Korea is that sufficient grounds for a prison sentence. And once again & for the 10th time, Shabak alleges that he passed on names. It never presented any evidence whatsoever that this actually happened. It never presented any evidence that he encrypted anything. If you have real evidence I invite you to present it. Not claims. But evidence. Proof. You know what this is & the diff. bet. the 2?
Israelis are Nazis? Hmmm. Interesting.
You wrote: ‘In the United States, Amnesty International USA urged President Obama to call on Israel to end the harassment of human rights defenders.’
But I don’t think you can trust President Obama:
On November 15, 2010, U.S. President Barack Obama praised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for urging his cabinet ‘to accept’ a U.S. proposal to extend a freeze on West Bank settlement building for 90 days. Obama also said that Washington would block UN resolutions critical of Israel, and supply Israel with fighter jets worth $3 billion. The US government also promised Israel that after the 90-day moratorium, they would not seek an extension, and settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem (all of which is illegal under international law) could continue unabated.