Ramallah, occupied West Bank - 4/8/2015 - The Director of Addameer’s Legal Unit, Adv. Mahmoud Hassan, reported that the judge at Ofer military court decided to postpone the hearing of the Palestinian Legislative Council’s member (PLC) and Addameer’s vice-chairperson, Khalida Jarrar, to the 10th of August 2015 as witnesses who were expected to take the stand did not show up for the court hearing.
Addameer holds the Israeli occupation’s military prosecution liable for the delays in the court proceedings since adequate actions to bring the witnesses to court were not taken. A detention order which was issued against one of the witnesses was not implemented and the military prosecution further stalled the proceedings by failing to summon an alleged witness who is currently detained in the Israeli occupation’s prisons to take the stand.
Mrs. Jarrar’s court proceedings prove the arbitrary nature of the occupation’s military judicial system where Palestinians are being detained without a logical or legal justification. The main purpose of the detention is to keep the detainee held in the Israeli occupation prisons as long as possible, and to suppress political and social activists in the Palestinian society.
Diplomats from the representative offices of South Africa and Switzerland, human rights organizations as well as family members were in attendance of Mrs. Jarrar’s hearing today.
It should be mentioned that the Israeli occupation forces arrested Mrs. Jarrar (52 years old) on the 2nd of April 2015 from her home in Ramallah. The military commander initially issued a 6-month administrative detention order in her behalf which was later reduced to one month and two days. On the 15th of April 2015 the military prosecution issued a list of 12 charges against Khalida all of which relate to her role as a political leader and PLC member.