Israel extends detention without trial of Palestinian lawmaker Khalida Jarrar

Israeli authorities have extended the detention without trial of a Palestinian politician by four months, ensuring she will remain behind bars for more than a year, the army said on Thursday.

Khalida Jarrar, 55, was arrested on July 2, 2017 for being a senior member in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a movement considered a terrorist organisation by Israel, the United States and the European Union.

The extension was decided on Monday by a military court but was made public on Thursday.

Details of the accusations against her are secret, as is customary with Israeli administrative detention orders, which allow detention without trial for renewable six-month periods.

A legislator in the largely defunct Palestinian parliament, she was given a six-month administrative detention order in July 2017.

The detention was extended in December by another six months "after security personnel found she still poses a substantial threat," the Israeli army said then.

Many PFLP leaders are in custody and Jarrar has been jailed multiple times.

She had only been released in June 2016 after 14 months in an Israeli jail for allegedly encouraging attacks against Israelis.

Earlier this week, 275 international political parties, feminist organisations, solidarity groups, student organisations, social justice movements and others have joined a campaign to free Jarrar, coming together in a common statement to demand her release.

Israel says administrative detention is intended to allow authorities to hold suspects while continuing to gather evidence, with the aim of preventing attacks in the meantime.

But the system has been criticised by Palestinians, human rights groups and members of the international community who say Israel abuses the measure.

The Addameer rights group says around 6,150 Palestinians are currently in Israeli jails, including around 450 in administrative detention.

Jarrar is the 11th member of the Palestinian parliament currently in jail, according to the Palestinian Prisoners' Club NGO.