The Israeli military court of Ofer, on Sunday, sentenced five Palestinian ex-detainees – who were released in the Gilad Shalit prisoners swap in 2011 and were rearrested in 2014 – to serve the remainder of their original sentences, according to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS).The five prisoners were identified as Mahdi Assi, from Nablus, Khaled Makhamreh from Hebron, Samer al-Issawi from Jerusalem, Nayef Shawamreh from Hebron and Wa’el Abu Jalboush from Jenin. Another ex-detainee; Na’el al-Bargouti, was sentenced to 30 months in jail. He was also released in 2011 prisoners swap and was re-captured by Israel last June.
According to WAFA, in June 0f 2014, Israel recaptured at least 50 ex-detainees who were released in the 2011 prisoners exchange deal with Hamas. These prisoners, along with hundreds others, remain held either under administrative detention – without indictment or trial – or are still awaiting military court ruling.
The arrests were made based on a 2009 military article that enables Israeli prosecutors to push for reinstating prisoners’ original sentences if they commit an offence. In these cases, neither the prisoner nor the lawyer is informed of the evidence that can be used to incarcerate them again.
In 2013, a team of Palestinian lawyers petitioned Israel’s high court regarding Article 186 of military order 1651, the regulation that particularly affected those released in the Shalit deal.
Addameer, a local prisoner human rights group, called it an “unjustified” act that “undermines the protection of prisoners and ex-prisoners”.
A total of 63 re-arrested prisoners went on a hunger strike in September 2014 to demand their release; however they remain behind bars until the moment as Israel refuses to discuss their situation, Israeli daily Haaretz reported.
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