On Monday, August 4, occupation military courts extended administrative detention for 13 Palestinian prisoners held without charge or trial, reported Ahrar Center for Human Rights.
Over 445 prisoners are now held without charge or trial under administrative detention, an increase since the middle of last June by 133%, said Riad al-Ashqar. Over 1900 Palestinians were arrested during the mass arrest campaign, including 27 members of Palestinian Legislative Council and 62 former prisoners re-arrested after being freed in the Wafa al-Ahrar exchange agreement.
Nearly 265 of them have been sentenced to administrative detention so far, including 17 PLC members, raising the number of administrative detainees to 445 from 180. Al-Ashqar noted that the number is likely to rise in coming days as a number of people are still being interrogated and dozens are expected to be sent to administrative detention without charge or trial.
This increase in administrative detention comes after the 62-day strike by administrative detainees demanding an end to this arbitrary practice, which targets Palestinian political leaders, student activists, labor activists, and community organizers. Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network joins the call to escalate the international campaign to end administrative detention even as the occupation is escalating its ongoing abuse of this policy of repression.
