Israel must stop harassment of human rights defender
12 May 2010
www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/israel-must-stop-harassment-human-rights-defender-2010-05-12

Amnesty International has called on the Israeli authorities to end their
harassment of a human rights activist whose week-long detention by the
Israeli authorities was extended today.

Ameer Makhoul, a Palestinian citizen of Israel, was arrested in a dawn raid
at his home in Haifa, northern Israel, by the Israeli security services and
police on 6 May. He has been charged with "contact with a foreign agent" on
the basis of “secret evidence”.

"Ameer Makhoul is a key human rights defender, well-known for his civil
society activism on behalf of the Palestinian citizens of Israel," said
Philip Luther, Deputy Director of Amnesty International's Middle East and
North Africa Programme.

"His arrest and continued detention smacks of pure harassment, designed to
hinder his human rights work. If this is the case, we would regard him as a
prisoner of conscience call for his immediate and unconditional release.”

Ameer Makhoul has been denied legal advice throughout his detention. The
doctor at the prison where he is held has informed his lawyer that he is
suffering from pains in his head.

On the morning of his arrest, Ameer Makhoul was taken to Petah Tikva
interrogation centre and, at a hearing the same day, his detention was
authorized for six days. Today it was extended until 17 May.

According to Ameer's wife, Janan Makhoul, during the raid on their home,
security forces confiscated mobile phones, laptops, a camera, and documents.

The same morning, members of the Israeli security forces also raided the
office of the association Ittijah in Haifa, where Ameer Makhoul works.

Ameer Makhoul had already been banned from travelling for two months on 21
April by the Israeli Minister of the Interior Eli Yishai, who said at the
time that Ameer Makhoul’s exit from the country “poses a serious threat to
the security of the state”.

The Palestinian activist was only made aware of the ban when he attempted to
leave Israel on 22 April, where he was scheduled to begin a series of
meetings with civil society activists in Jordan.

When Amnesty International spoke to Ameer Makhoul in late April he expressed
his concern that the travel ban was part of a broader pattern of state
repression against the peaceful political activities of Palestinian citizens
of Israel, justified under "security concerns".

In January 2009, the Israeli Central Election Committee banned the National
Democratic Assembly (NDA), a party which currently holds three seats in the
Israeli parliament and calls for Israel to be "a state for all its
citizens", and the United Arab List, which has four parliamentary
representatives, from standing in Israel’s general elections under the claim
that the parties supported terrorism and "did not recognize Israel's
existence as a Jewish and democratic state".

The Committee’s ban on the two parties was subsequently overturned by the
Israeli High Court.

On 24 April, Omar Said, an activist with the NDA was detained by the Israeli
authorities.

Initially a gagging order was imposed on the Israeli press to prevent
reporting of Ameer Makhoul’s and Omar Said’s detentions.

The lifting of the order led to reports in the Israeli media on Monday that
the arrests of both men related to accusations of spying and contact with a
foreign agent from Lebanese group Hizbullah.

Ameer Makhoul has been the General Director of Ittijah, which works on
behalf of the Palestinian community in Israel, since its foundation in 1995.

He is also the chair of the Public Committee for the Defence of Political
Freedom within the Arab Higher Monitoring Committee in Israel.

"In the unlikely event that there are genuine grounds to prosecute Ameer
Makhoul he should be charged with recognizable criminal offences and brought
promptly to trial in full conformity with international fair trial
standards," said Philip Luther.

So Israel must not arrest Arabs for spying, what a load of rubbish.

Spy for our enemies and you should get a fair trial and then if found guilty. Be executed rather than be a tool that can be used against Israel in the next exchange of terrorist for hostages.