Israel 'punishes' Palestinian detainee for speaking to media about prison abuse

French-Palestinian lawyer Salah Hammouri, 33, partook in an interview with a French journalist where he discussed the abuse he had been subjected to as an administrative detainee, the process of administrative detention and the tactics the IPS use against administrative detainees, according to Palestinian prisoners rights group Adameer.

After taking part, Israeli courts accused him of engaging in incitement and moved him from al-Naqab prison to Megiddo prison. Hammouri’s wife and son have been banned from entering Palestine.

"Hammouri was initially arrested from his home in Kufar Aqab during the early hours on August 23, 2017. His arrest was in response to the issuing of a six-month administrative detention order,” Adameer said.

"Hammouri has previously been held in Israeli prisons twice, with the first time amounting to around two years. Subsequently, in 2005, Salah was sentenced to seven years. He was released after six and a half years as a result of the ‘Shalit’ agreement in 2011.”

Human rights group Amnesty International in September criticised Israel’s decision to detain Hammouri, whom they said was locked up without "a shred of evidence”.

"The arbitrary detention of Salah Hammouri is yet another shameful example of the Israeli authorities’ abusive use of administrative detention to detain suspects indefinitely without charge or trial. Rather than locking him up without presenting a shred of evidence against him, the Israeli authorities must either charge him with a genuine criminal offence or order his immediate release,” said Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa, Magdalena Mughrabi.