The Israeli district court in Nazareth rejected the appeal of six Palestinian prisoners from Jerusalem, who had appealed the reimposition of life sentences upon them after their rearrest in June 2014. Adnan Maragha, Ismail Hijazi, Alaa Bazian, Nasser Abed Rabbo, Jamal Abu Saleh, and Rajab al-Tahan were released from their earlier sentences in the Wafa al-Ahrar prisoner exchange for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in October 2011; in the mass arrest raids of summer 2014, over 60 prisoners released in the exchange were re-arrested.
Upon their rearrest, occupation military tribunals reimposed their original life sentences on the grounds of “violating their conditions of release”, based on secret evidence that the prisoners and their lawyers were barred from accessing. Initially, occupation authorities stated they were investigating the six for “membership in prohibited organizations,” referring to a number of Palestinian political parties, including the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Hamas movement and others; and violating their release terms, but were instead reimposed their sentences under military order without any formal charges or trial. They were accused of no acts, merely of association with prominent Palestinian political organizations
Their only remaining legal step is to access the Israeli Supreme Court.
