Mr Mohammad Othman

In a scheduled hearing on 8 October 2009, detained Palestinian human rights defender Mr Mohammad Othman has had his detention period extended for an additional 12 days by a military court. This followed a hearing on 29 September, when a military court in Kishon extended Mohammad Othman's detention period for 10 days to allow for further interrogation. Mohammad Othman, who works with the “Stop the Wall” grassroots campaign, had been arrested on 22 September while returning to Ramallah in the West Bank from Jordan. He had traveled to Norway where he took part in an advocacy tour and fulfilled a number of speaking events.

On 22 September Mohammad Othman was arrested at the Allenby Bridge Border Crossing between Jordan and the West Bank while attempting to travel to Ramallah, and was taken to Huwwara provisional detention centre. On 24 September, Mohammad Othman was transferred to Kishon interrogation centre, near Haifa in northern Israel, where he was subsequently placed in solitary confinement. On 27 September he was interrogated for the first time in a session lasting less than one hour, and was questioned about his family and friends, asked to provide their telephone numbers and his personal email address, and received general questions about his work. In a second interrogation which took place on 29 September, a few hours before his court hearing and which lasted 40 minutes, he was asked the same questions as before.

At his court hearing in Kishon on 29 September, no reason was provided for Mohammad Othman's arrest, but police contended that an extension of his detention period was necessary for further interrogation. The military judge rejected the interrogators’ initial request to extend Mohammad’s detention period to 23 additional days, arguing that no clear allegations existed because only two short interrogation sessions had taken place during the previous eight days of his detention. The judge did agree, however, to a ten-day extension period, reportedly based on “secret information” that was made available to him by representatives from the Israeli Security Agency (ISA). Samer Sam'an, lawyer for Mohammad Othman at the hearing, questioned the ISA officers about the content of the undisclosed information and the reasons for Mohammad's detention, but failed to receive a response.

Since then Stop the Wall Campaign and globalisation organisation War on Want have reported that on 8 October, Mohammad Othman's detention period was extended for an additional 12 days. He still has been not been told of any charges against him.

Local human rights organisations including Addameer and Stop the Wall allege that Mohammad Othman's arrest and detention form part of an ongoing pattern of harassment of Palestinian human rights defenders. Addameer reports that Israel has regularly used administrative detention in the Occupied Palestinian Territories to facilitate the detention of community activists and human rights defenders in cases where evidence against them is insufficient to press charges. Israeli Military Order 1226 empowers military commanders to detain individuals for up to six months if they have “reasonable grounds to presume that the security of the area or public security require the detention.” As a result, activists and defenders can be placed under indefinite administrative detention, without charge or trial, for a renewable period of one to six months.

Front Line believes that the arrest and ongoing detention of Mohammad Othman is directly related to his work in the defence of human rights, particularly in relation to the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Front Line is concerned for the physical and psychological integrity of Mohammad Othman.

Front Line urges the authorities in Israel to:

1.Immediately and unconditionally release Mohammad Othman, as Front Line believes he is being held solely as a result of his legitimate and peaceful work in the defence of human rights;

2.Carry out an immediate, impartial and thorough investigation into the arrest and ongoing detention of Mohammad Othman;

3.Ensure that the treatment of Mohammad Othman, while in detention, adheres to all those conditions set out in the 'Basic Principles for Treatment of Prisoners, adopted by General Assembly Resolution 45/111 of 14 December 1990';

4.Take all necessary measures to guarantee the physical and psychological security and integrity of Mohammad Othman;

5.Guarantee in all circumstances that human rights defenders in Palestine are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals, and free of all restrictions including judicial harassment.