Occupation forces continued their campaign of arrests in the West Bank, abducting 18 Palestinians on Wednesday, August 5 and early Thursday, August 6, with a total of 120 Palestinians detained by the occupation military in the first week of August, according to a report by the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society. There are now approximately 6,500 Palestinian political prisoners in occupation prisons.
Those detained include Ibrahim Jaber, a former prisoner who had been released in the 2011 Wafa al-Ahrar prisoner exchange. 62 prisoners released in the exchange were re-arrested by occupation forces since June 2014, and a number have had their entire pre-release sentences re-imposed by military tribunals.
The release of the prisoners re-arrested after their release in the exchange (including well-known former long-term hunger striker Samer Issawi) is one of the terms of the Palestinian resistance in the Gaza ceasefire talks currently taking place in Cairo. Fouad Khuffash of Ahrar Center stressed the urgency of this issue, noting that all of them face the re-imposition of their previous sentences, which are mostly lengthy sentences up to life terms.
Seven Palestinians were taken from al-Khalil area by occupation forces, while others were taken from Jenin, Nablus, Bethlehem and Tulkarem areas. In the first week of August, 30 Palestinians from Al-Khalil area have been detained, 23 from Jerusalem, 20 from Ramallah and al-Bireh, 14 from Bethlehem, 14 from Jenin, 8 from Salfit, 5 from Nablus, 3 from Tubas, 2 from Tulkarem and 1 from Jericho.
Also on Thursday, August 7, 11 more Palestinian political prisoners were sentenced to administrative detention without charge or trial, raising the number of administrative detainees to over 466. 268 Palestinians have been sent to administrative detention since mid-June 2014, the beginning of the campaign of mass arrests. All of those sentenced to administrative detention were detained in the mass arrest campaign. Administrative detention is a form of detention based on secret evidence, in which Palestinians are held without charge or trial for renewable periods of up to six months.
The 11 people sentenced to administrative detention are: Saeed Abu Tahoun – 6 months; Hani Shalash – 6 months; Noureddine Alayan – 6 months; Thaer Samadeh – 6 months; Musab al-Hindi, 6 months; Ehab Alayan – 6 months; Yousef Abu Farra – 4 months; Eyad Daraghmeh – 3 months; Saji Abu Abdou – 5 months; Ibrahim Saba – 4 months; and Mohammed Harbiyat – 6 months.
