FREE
HANA SHALABI
ARREST AND
INTERROGATION
Hana Yahya Shalabi was arrested from
her family home on 14 September 2009. At approximately 1:30 a.m. that morning,
Israeli soldiers in 12 military jeeps surrounded her house in Burqin village,
near the West Bank town of Jenin. The soldiers ordered Hana’s entire family
outside of the house and demanded Hana give them her identity card. They then
proceeded to conduct a thorough search of the family’s home.
During the search, one of the
soldiers forcibly removed framed pictures of Hana’s brother Samer, who was
killed by the Israeli army in 2005, tore them apart and walked over the pieces
in front of the entire family.
The soldiers then started shouting
and cursing at Hana and her family members. When Hana’s father, aged 63,
attempted to intervene and protect his daughter from continued verbal abuse,
one Israeli soldier pushed him in the chest with the butt of a rifle. Clearly
distressed, Hana’s mother fainted at this scene. The soldiers then handcuffed
Hana in painfully tight shackles around her wrists and placed her under arrest.
Hana was then transferred by military
jeep to Salem Detention Center. During the transfer, Hana’s abaya, a
traditional Muslim religious dress covering the entire body worn by women over
home clothes, came open, uncovering her clothes and parts of her body. Some of
the male soldiers accompanying her in the jeep took pictures of her at this
point, consciously exploiting her situation, knowing she would feel offended
and humiliated by such photos.
Upon arrival to Salem Detention
Center, a doctor gave Hana a quick physical examination. Immediately after the
examination, Hana was transferred to Kishon Detention Center inside Israel
where her interrogation formally began.
SOLITARY
CONFINEMENT AND ABUSE
Hana was held in solitary confinement
at Kishon Detention Center for eight consecutive days, in a cell measuring six
square meters that contained no windows or natural sunlight. The cell contained
only a mattress and a bathroom, and was reportedly very dirty. Hana was
subjected to exhausting interrogation sessions every day, which lasted from
10:00 a.m. until the late evening hours.
The lack of natural sunlight during
this period caused her to lose all sense of time and she was often unable to
determine whether it was night or day.
As this period of isolation and
disorientation coincided with the holy month of Ramadan, Hana was unable to
monitor time in order to respect her fast. As a result, she decided not to eat
at all, refusing meals and drinking water only during the entire eight day
period.
Hana was also subjected to sexual
harassment and physical violence during her interrogation. Hana told Addameer
attorney Safa Abdo of an incident that occurred at end of an interrogation
session, in which she did not confess to committing a crime, as her
interrogators had expected.
In a move that Addameer contends was
an effort to provoke Hana, one of the Israeli interrogators called Hana
“habibti” (Arabic for “darling”) in a provocative manner.
Feeling humiliated and angry at the
interrogator’s offensive use of an intimate term, Hana started shouting at him.
The interrogators responded by slapping her on her face and beating her on her
arms and hands. The guards then took her back to her cell where they tied her to
the bed frame and continued humiliating her by taking pictures of her laying in
that position.
Addameer is greatly concerned by the
verbal abuse Israeli detaining authorities display towards Palestinian female
prisoners by directing sexual threats towards them and using inappropriate,
vulgar language. Addameer contends that this behavior is done in a deliberate
effort to exploit Palestinian women’s fears by playing on patriarchal norms as
well as gender stereotypes within particular customs of Palestinian society.
ADMINISTRATIVE
DETENTION
After Hana’s interrogation period
concluded, she remained in Kishon Detention Center for nine additional days,
which Israeli authorities claimed were necessary for the purpose of
investigation.
On 29 September 2009, Israeli
Military Commander Ilan Malka issued a six-month administrative detention order
against Hana on the premise that she posed a threat to the “security of the
area”.
The order was set to expire on 28
March 2010. At the judicial review of the order, which took place on 5 October
2009 at the Court of Administrative Detainees in Ofer Military Base, near the
West Bank city of Ramallah, military judge Ilan Nun confirmed the order for the
entire six month period, but agreed to count the two weeks Hana had already
been detained towards her detention period.
In his decision, Nun alleged that,
based on the “secret information” made available to him by the military
prosecution, Hana was intending to carry out a “terrorist attack”. The judge
further claimed that Hana had already undertaken initial steps in preparation
for the attack, though he provided no proof to support this allegation.
Addameer contends that the judge’s
decision raises serious questions and fair trial issues.
Seventeen days of investigation by
the Israeli Security Agency, including eight days of consecutive interrogation
did not prove the suspicions against Hana and no evidence of the alleged
“intention” was brought before the court. Moreover, at no point did the court
establish Hana’s affiliation with a Palestinian political party or armed group,
nor did it establish whether Hana planned to carry out the alleged attack by
herself or in partnership with anyone else.
Additionally, the nature of a
possible partnership was never investigated. Importantly, all suspicions
directed towards Hana remained vague and general, leaving her without any
legitimate means to defend herself.
Although administrative detention
orders issued by the Israeli military commander are the subject of review and further
appeal by a military court, neither lawyers nor detainees are permitted to see
the 'secret information’ used as a basis for the detention orders, rendering
any possible legal defense meaningless.
Hana’s attorneys filed an appeal
against her administrative detention order, but the appeal was refused. Hana is
now set to be held without charge or trial until 13 March 2010.
DETENTION
CONDITIONS
Prior to her transfer to HaSharon
Prison, Hana spent a total of 17 days in Kishon Detention Center, where she was
not once given a change of clean clothes. Hana continued to be detained in
interrogation-like conditions for three days after her administrative detention
order was issued.
On 1 October 2009, she was eventually
transferred to Section 2 of HaSharon Prison, where, due to overcrowding, she
was placed in the same section as female Israeli criminal offenders. This
placement is a direct violation of Israeli Prison Service Regulations, which
stipulate that administrative detainees are to be held separately from all
other detainees and prisoners, including those who have been convicted of a
crime.
Moreover, detained in the same
sections as Israeli criminal offenders, Palestinian female prisoners are almost
always discriminated against, enjoy fewer recreation hours and are often
subjected to humiliation and abusive language from Israeli prisoners, who
threaten them of physical attack. As a result, Palestinian women live in
constant fear and often experience insomnia, and other psychological problems
for the entire time they are detained in the same sections with Israeli women.
Addameer attorney Safa Abdo filed a complaint with the HaSharon
Prison administration regarding Hana’s detention conditions. On 25 October
2009, after being held for 25 days among Israeli criminal offenders, Hana was
finally moved to Section 12 of HaSharon Prison with the other Palestinian
female prisoners, where she was held together with approximately 18 other
Palestinian female prisoners. The building which now constitutes the prison
complex served as the headquarters of the British Mounted Police during the
British Mandate in Palestine and, as such, was never designed for the
incarceration of women. As a result, Hana suffered from the harsh detention
conditions and complained of overcrowding, humidity, lack of natural sunlight
and adequate ventilation, as well as poor hygiene standards.(1)
PERSONAL
INFORMATION
Prior to her arrest by the Israeli
authorities, Hana was arrested and held by the Palestinian intelligence forces
for a week in 2009 for the purpose of interrogation. During this period, Hana
was permitted to sleep at home and was kept in detention from 9:00 a.m. until
11:00 p.m. each day.
Hana is one of nine children in a
family of farmers in Burqin village, next to Jenin. On 29 September 2005,
Hana’s brother Samer was killed by Israeli forces during an incursion in the
village. Although Hana never intended to pursue university studies after
completing her secondary education, she now vows to study journalism after she
is released to advocate for the rights of Palestinian prisoners.
Administrative detention is a
procedure that allows the Israeli military to hold detainees indefinitely on
secret evidence 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 1591. 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 please visit the campaign’s page.
1 Please refer to “In Need for Protection:
Palestinian Female Prisoners in Israeli Detention” for detailed information on
Palestinian women prisoners’ detention conditions in Israeli prisons.
For more information about
administrative detention and Addameer’s
Campaign to Stop Administrative Detention please visit our website: www.addameer.org.
Read
Addameer’s July 2010 update report on administrative detention:
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ACT NOW!
Here is how you can help Hana Shalabi:
*Write to the Israeli government, military and legal
authorities and demand that Hana Shalabi 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: arbel@mail.idf.il; avimn@idf.gov.il
- Maj. Gen. Avi Mizrahi
OC Central Command Nehemia Base, Central Command
Neveh Yaacov, Jerusalam
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
*Write to your own elected representatives urging
them to pressure Israel to release Hana Shalabi and to put an end to such an
unjust, arbitrary and cruel system of incarceration without trial.
