Over 450 Palestinians imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention orders by the Israeli occupation are continuing their boycott of the occupation courts for the 11th day as of Sunday, 25 February, as part of their ongoing protest to demand an end to imprisonment without charge or trial. The administrative detainees launched their collective boycott on 15 February, noting that the military courts of the occupation are a sham and a facade that serves only to implement the orders of the occupation and automatically approve administrative detention orders.
The prisoners’ statement urged Palestinian officials to provide all forms of political and legal support for the battle against administrative detention, including bringing the case to the International Criminal Court.
Many Palestinians have spent years at a time jailed under administrative detention with repeated renewals. The policy was first imposed in Palestine by the British colonial mandate and then continued by Zionist colonizers. Over the past two and one-half years, the Israeli occupation has issued over 3,500 administrative detention orders, including several dozen against children under the age of 18.
Numerous hunger strikes on an individual and collective level have been launched against the policy of administrative detention, which systematically targets leading activists, community organizers and other influential Palestinians in the freedom struggle. The 450 administrative detainees are among 6,200 total Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network unreservedly supports the administrative detainees’ strike and urges international actions, protests and events in solidarity with the prisoners’ cause. Their struggle is helping to highlight and expose the policy of administrative detention and colonial imprisonment used as an arm of Zionist occupation and colonization in Palestine.
