Harassment and intimidation of Palestinian HRD, Manal Al-Ja’bri, in Hebron
On 22 April, Israeli authorities interrogated Palestinian human rights defender Manal Al-Ja’bri on charges of “assaulting a border police officer” and “photographing a checkpoint”. She was physically assaulted, intimidated and briefly detained by Israeli Border Police officers in the area of the Ibrahimi Mosque (Cave of the Patriarchs) located in the heart of Hebron’s old city while she was conducting field work for her human rights research. She was requested to attend the Offer Military Court on 18 September 2018.
Manal Al-Ja’bri is a Palestinian human rights defender and a field researcher for the Israeli Information Centre for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, known as B’Tselem.
On 22 April, Israeli authorities interrogated Palestinian human rights defender Manal Al-Ja’bri on charges of “assaulting a border police officer” and “photographing a checkpoint”. She was physically assaulted, intimidated and briefly detained by Israeli Border Police officers in the area of the Ibrahimi Mosque (Cave of the Patriarchs) located in the heart of Hebron’s old city while she was conducting field work for her human rights research. She was requested to attend the Offer Military Court on 18 September 2018.
Manal Al-Ja’bri is a Palestinian human rights defender and a field researcher for the Israeli Information Centre for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, known as B’Tselem.
On 22 April at around 13:40, Manal Al-Ja’abri was stopped by the Israeli Border Police at the Bench Checkpoints, located fifty metres east of the Bakery Checkpoint in Hebron, and questioned about the purpose of her presence in the area. When Manal Al-Ja’abri told them that she is affiliated with B’Tselem, she was immediately detained at the checkpoint and police officers subjected her to a humiliating search and ordered her to remove her clothes in the street. When the human rights defender refused to comply, the officer began beating her, twisting her arm and pushing her against the wall. He kicked her legs several times and punched her in the back. The officers then took her to a room at the checkpoint and again ordered her to remove her clothes. The human rights defender, noticing another officer trying to take photos of her, refused and was beaten again.
From there, Manal Al-Ja’abri was transferred to Al-Haram Police Station where she remained for several hours and was subjected to verbal assault and humiliation. She was later interrogated at another police station in the settlement of Kiryat Arba on charges of “assaulting a border police officer” and “photographing a checkpoint”. She was then released at around 21:00 on the condition that she refrains from coming near Ibrahimi Mosque and attends Ofer Military Court on 18 September 2018.
Front Line Defenders condemns the harassment and interrogation of human rights defender Manal Al-Ja’abri, as it believes these actions to be a direct consequence of her peaceful and legitimate work in defence of human rights.
