ADNAN MUHSEN

Date of Birth: 1 September 1973

Date of Arrest: 19 June 2014

Marital Status: Married with 3 children

Prison: Ramleh Prison Clinic

Legal Status: Administrative detention

 

 

 

On 19 June 2014, Adnan was arrested from his home at 1:30 AM by a large convoy of Israeli Occupying Forces (IOF) who surrounded the area and raided the building where he resides. After searching the entire building, the Israeli intelligence officer ordered the IOF soldiers to arrest Adnan while he was laying on his bed. They brought a gurney which they intended to carry him on but his father protested this method of arrest and insisted that he be allowed his wheelchair.

 

After a long argument, the IOF agreed and allowed Adnan to be taken on a wheelchair in an armored vehicle. He was immediately blindfolded and shackled. Adnan’s father again objected saying: “Why would you blindfold and shackle a person that can’t walk or move? Are you afraid that he might escape?” The arresting IOF officer answered that it is a security measure.

   

Adnan was immediately transferred to Etzion Detention Center and one day later to Ofer Military Base, where he received a four-month administrative detention order. He was then transferred to Ramleh Prison Clinic as a result of his deteriorating health condition.

 

Adnan was previously detained in 1990 and 1997, where both arrests lasted for several months. 

 

According to Ahmad Dweib, the director of Palestinian Disabled Friends Society, Adnan fell from a height of three meters in 2001 while working in Jerusalem. The fall broke his spinal cord and he became paralyzed in the lower half of his body. He is only mobile by wheelchair and in constant need of assistance. Additionally, he also suffers from breathing problems that require continuous treatment. According to his family, he takes several medications including anti-clotting and anti-spasm pills. There is a copy of his medical file at Addameer. 

 

During Adnan’s hearing to confirm the administrative detention order on 25 June, the prosecution claimed that he is “a well known figure affiliated with Hamas and that he participated in the organization’s activities.” They also claimed that he is involved in “financing terrorism.”

 

The defense replied that Adnan left Hamas since his accident in 2001. The defense added that his physical disability prevents him from any form of participation which negates the military prosecutions claims. Therefore, his arrest and administrative detention order were based on false accusations and with political intention. The defense also stated that the order came as part of the collective punitive measures against the Palestinians, specifically Hamas, after the disappearance of the three Israeli settlers in Hebron in June 2014.

 

At the hearing, Adnan also confirmed to the military judge that the prosecution’s accusations were false and that any financial support he receives is due to his inability to work and is not affiliated with any political organization.

 

Regardless, the military judge declared that the information submitted by the prosecution was substantial but that he would still not reveal it because he feared exposing the source.  For the same reason, the detainee would not be transferred to interrogation. The judge also confirmed that according to the secret information, the detainee is a threat to the security of the area, and that releasing Adnan would impose serious danger.

 

The judge acknowledged that a portion of the financial aid Adnan receives is for medical treatment but that the data also shows that the detainee transferred money to Hamas. The judge also claimed that the information is detailed and clear regarding the matter and that the military commander made the right choice to issue an administrative detention order against the detainee. The judge confirmed this order for four months from 22 June to 18 October 2014.

 

Adnan’s administrative detention order clearly shows Israel’s use of the policy for political detention and repression. Adnan was arrested during the mass arrest campaign across the West Bank, occupied Jerusalem and the 1948 territories after the disappearance of three settlers in Hebron on 12 June 2014. The campaign was part of the collective punishment against all Palestinians including leaders, activists and Palestinian Legislative Council members. In most cases, those arrested received administrative detention orders.

 

During the same period, the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) also implemented collective punitive measures against all Palestinian prisoners and detainees including: banning of family visits, reducing recreational hours, reducing the quantity in meals, limiting television and radio channels to Hebrew-only stations and limiting the amount of money families can transfer to detainees to be used in the prison canteen.

 

The detention of Adnan in his current medical condition is in violation of Article 14 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities which guarantees that all persons with disabilities “are not deprived of their liberty unlawfully or arbitrarily, and that any deprivation of liberty is in conformity with the law.”

 

Adnan is married and has three children. Seventeen-year old Aya is in her final year (tawjihi) in high school. Sixteen-year old Mujahed and thirteen-year old Abdallah are also students. During Adnan’s arrest, Mujahed was being treated for appendicitis in the hospital.

 

The family lives in feat because they have not seen Adnan since his arrest. They do not know his health status or if he is receiving appropriate treatment. None of the family members, including Adnan’s parents, have been allowed to visit him in prison due to the revocation of family visits imposed on Adnan in June 2014.

 

Administrative detention is a procedure that allows the Israeli military to hold detainees indefinitely on secret information without charging them or allowing them to stand trial. In the occupied Palestinian West Bank, the Israeli army is authorized to issue administrative detention orders against Palestinian civilians on the basis of Military Order 1651. This order empowers military commanders to detain an individual for up to six month renewable periods if they have “reasonable grounds to presume that the security of the area or public security require the detention.” On or just before the expiry date, the detention order is frequently renewed. This process can be continued indefinitely.

 

For more information about administrative detention and Addameer’s Campaign to Stop Administrative Detention see: http://stopadcampaign.com

 

 

*Write to the Israeli government, military and legal authorities and demand that Adnan Muhsen be released immediately. 

 

•        Brigadier General Danny Efroni

Military Judge Advocate General

6 David Elazar Street

Harkiya, Tel Aviv

Israel

Fax: +972 3 608 0366; +972 3 569 4526

Email: [email protected]; [email protected]

•        Maj. Gen. Nitzan Alon

OC Central Command Nehemia Base, Central Command

Neveh Yaacov, Jerusalem

Fax: +972 2 530 5741

•        Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Ehud Barak

Ministry of Defense

37 Kaplan Street, Hakirya

Tel Aviv 61909, Israel

Fax: +972 3 691 6940 / 696 2757

•        Col. Eli Bar On

Legal Advisor of Judea and Samaria PO Box 5

Beth El 90631

Fax: +972 2 9977326