Ramallah- 13/9/2015- The coordinator of Addameer’s legal unit, Ayman Nasser, was released yesterday from Ofer Prison near Ramallah after spending one year in administrative detention without charge or trial.
Ayman Nasser (45 years old), was arrested on 18/9/2014 from his home in the village of Saffa near Ramallah and was placed under a three months administrative detention by means of a military order from the Israeli occupation that was renewed three times.
Administrative detention is used by the IOF to detain Palestinian civilians without charges or trial based on secret undisclosed material not accessible to the detainee and his/her lawyer. In practice this means that administrative detainees do not know the reason behind their detention and are thus deprived from their fundamental right to a fair trial and prevents them from building an effective legal defense. Administrative detention orders under the Israeli occupation’s military law can be renewed indefinitely.
Mr. Nasser was previously arrested in 1992 and sentenced to six years in prison. He was also arrested in 2012 and was subjected to a brutal interrogation at Maskobiyeh interrogation center for 39 days during which he was during which he was subjected to lengthy sessions of intensive and harsh interrogation while being shackled to a chair with his hands behind his back. After the lengthy and brutal interrogation, Nasser was sentenced to 13 months in prison and received a 15-month suspended sentence for four years and was further fined 4000 NIS (1020 USD). He was finally released on 21/10/2013 and was rearrested last year.
Ayman Nasser, who is married and has four sons, holds a Master’s Degree in Social and Educational Psychology and has been the coordinator of the legal unit at Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association since 2013 and was a lecturer at Al-Quds Open University where he taught Social Work. He is also the Chairperson and one of the founders of the Handala Center in Saffa which was established 1999. The Handala Center is an educational, artistic and sports center that is based on voluntary work and serves all the residents of Saffa. He was also the elected president of Saffa’s sports club twice since 2003. In addition, Ayman was a candidate on the ‘United Saffa’ list in the local elections in Saffa, which believes in justice, development and the rule of law and was elected while in prison.