On February 20, 2019, HaMoked sent an urgent letter to the military, demanding the immediate release from administrative detention of Khalida Jarrar. Jarrar has been held in administrative detention since July 2017, for some twenty consecutive months, during which time, her detention was extended thrice. The last detention order is about to expire on February 28, 2019.
In its letter, HaMoked asserted that the scope of Israel’s use of this measure suggests it serves as an unacceptable alternative to indictment, rather than as a highly exceptional measure, as international law stipulates. HaMoked noted that there was serious cause for concern that Jarrar’s non-violent political activities, protected under her basic rights to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly, are the real reason for her protracted administrative detention.
Jarrar has been a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) since 2006 and serves as the Palestinian representative on the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. For many years, Jarrar was a prominent human rights activist and promoted the rights of Palestinian women. Additionally, she served as the director of Addameer: Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association.
In 2014,
Israel issued an order for the expulsion of Jarrar from her home in Ramallah to Jericho, in severe violation of the Geneva Convention.
