Take action for Shawan Jabrin
Dear Prime Minister,
On 1 March 2016, Mr Shawan Jabarin, human rights defender and General Director of the human rights organisation Al-Haq, received death threats over the phone from an anonymous caller. The threats come in the context of increasing harassment of Al-Haq and its members amid their recent work at the International Criminal Court (ICC) seeking justice for human rights violations being committed in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Shawan Jabarin is a Palestinian human rights defender and General Director of Al-Haq, a Ramallah-based independent human rights organisation which has been involved in defending human rights and promoting the rule of law in the Occupied Palestinian Territories since 1979. Shawan Jabarin is also a board member of the Human Rights Watch Middle East Advisory Board and has worked for years promoting human rights in the face of Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories.
The threats were received in a phone call to Shawan Jabarin from an anonymous caller. Al-Haq has repeatedly faced harassment as a result of its engagement in the defence of human rights in Palestine. The threats against the organisation have recently witnessed an acute increase in the wake of the organisation putting pressure on the Palestinian Authorities to join the ICC, and their making of a submission, along with Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights, Aldameer and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), to the ICC Prosecutor’s Office, urging it to open an investigation into ongoing human rights violations in Palestine.
In February 2016, a human rights lawyer representing Al-Haq before the International Criminal Court also received direct death threats. Staff members of the organisation have also recently noticed unusual activity on their mobile phones and in their email accounts. Al-Haq has regularly received hacking attacks and Trojan Horse viruses. In September 2015, several of Al-Haq’s European donors received false letters from an individual claiming to be an official from the Palestinian authorities. In the letters, the individual made untrue and unfounded allegations that the organisation is facing investigation for “financial irregularities, corruption, fraud and misuse of donations and funds”.
Shawan Jabarin has been subjected to numerous acts of harassment in response to his human rights work in the past. In November 2011, Israeli authorities prevented him from traveling to Denmark to accept a prize from the Danish PL Foundation in recognition of his human rights work. In March 2009 he was scheduled to travel to the Netherlands to receive the Geuzenpenning Award on behalf of Al-Haq for its work for democracy and against discrimination, however the Israeli Supreme Court passed a decision upholding a previous travel ban against him and he was not permitted to travel. He first faced travel restrictions in October 2006, when Israeli authorities denied him permission to leave the West Bank for human rights conferences in different countries.
I express concern about the threats against Shawan Jabarin and the repeated acts of harassment and intimidation against Al-Haq and its members, which I believe to be directly motivated by their peaceful and legitimate human rights activities.
I urge the authorities in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories to:
- Immediately take all necessary measures to ensure the physical and psychological security of human rights defender Shawan Jabarin, and launch a full and impartial investigation into the threats made against him, with a view to publishing the results and bringing those responsible to justice in accordance with international standards;
- Guarantee in all circumstances that all human rights defenders in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals and free of all restrictions.
Sincerely,
