Ahrar Center recently announced that Israel’s Ofer court has sentenced prisoner Bakr Sa’ad to two years of imprisonment, with a fine of 4,000 shekels (About $1,070) and a stay of execution for five years. Additionally,13 Palestinian prisoners have been issued administrative imprisonment orders.According to the PNN, Sa’ad’s brother told the Ahrar Center for Prisoner Studies and Human Rights that Bakr has been imprisoned since 18/4/2013, and is now being held in Rimon desert prison.
He was first imprisoned in April of 2013, under the pretext of forming a cell affiliated to Hamas armed wing al-Qassam Brigades and for detaining Israeli soldiers.
The imprisonment is reportedly his first, and Israeli authorities have been delaying court sessions until the sentence came out yesterday, October 19th.
Bakr is married and has a child who was born during his confinement.
In a related context, Khalil Assaf, a member of the subcommittee on civil liberties formed after the West Bank-Gaza unity government was sworn in in June, says that Palestinian Authority police regularly detain people in the West Bank due to their political affiliation.
‘Every day people are being detained in the West Bank because of their political affiliation, though in most cases they are released within days,’ Assaf told Ma’an News Agency.
Though he could not give an exact number of political detainees, he said ‘we are talking about dozens’ of people.
He said additionally that, regardless of the committee’s formation, none of its recommendations have been implemented, and it has not been summoned for any meetings with the rest of the unity government, so far.
See related: Abu Zurhi Denounces Abbas’ Call for Defending Al-Aqsa
PNN further reports that Israeli authorities, on Monday, have issued administrative imprisonment orders for 13 Palestinians, with durations of imprisonment ranging between 2 and 6 months.
The Palestinian Prisoners’ Club said in an announcement, today, that ten of the orders were for new citizens, while three administrative imprisonments were renewed.
Thus, the number of administrative orders since the beginning of October now rises to 96.
Administrative detention procedures, the use of which by Israel dates back to the British mandate period, allows them to hold prisoners indefinitely without chage or trial, on the basis of secret information.
The conditions under which prisoners are kept are often quite harsh, during such a sentence, with basic needs and medical care being neglected by Israeli authorities.
See also: Sick Palestinian Detainees Face Death in Israeli Prisons
