Palestinian women's rights activist sentenced after lengthy Israeli detention without charge

An Israeli military court sentenced a prominent Palestinian women's rights activist to 15 months in prison on Sunday, after she had already served a year and three months in detention without charge.

Khitam Saafin, 59, is the president of the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees (UPWC) - one of six Palestinian civil society groups labeled ‘terrorist’ organisations by Israel in October. Saafin was sentenced for acting as director of a banned organisation, among other charges.

Has been administratively detained for 15 months
Prisoners Information Office: Ofer Military Court sentences the captive Khitam Ismail Saafin from Ramallah to an actual 16-month prison term,#IsraeliCrimes #BreakingNews #قرارنا_حرية pic.twitter.com/1WyutkdRfJ

— أَنوار 𓂆 (@klaib94) February 14, 2022

Saafin was arrested in early November 2020 under an administrative detention order for six months. The Israeli military prosecution accused her of belonging to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

The Israeli prosecution then dropped that charge, however presented a new file against her which included the previous charge and a series of new charges “not related directly to her activities”, according to a spokesperson at human rights group Addameer.

The spokesperson, who preferred not to be named, told The New Arab that “accusations against Saafin are basically exaggerations of her public activity at the head of the UPWC, like fundraising, holding demonstrations and relations with other civil organisations”.

They added that “after negotiations with Addameer’s lawyer, the Israeli military prosecution agreed to limit the list of charges. Eventually, the court only counted 4 months of Saafin’s detention without charges as part of her new sentence”.

Meanwhile...the Israeli regime continues to incarcerate Palestinians. Yesterday they arrested Khitam Saafin the head of the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees and human rights activist Muhanned al Azzeh. https://t.co/o9PTzU7dTK

— Dr. Yara Hawari د. يارا هواري (@yarahawari) November 4, 2020

Shawan Jabarin, director of Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq - another of the six NGOs proscribed by Israel - said that Saafin's imprisonment is part of a sustained campaign of Israeli harassment of Palestinian civil society groups.

"The sentence of Khitam Saafin is an attempt to intimidate us and silence the voices that defend human rights in Palestine,” Jabarin told The New Arab.

He vowed that “Palestinian civil organisations will continue our work despite these attempts”.

Israeli defence minister Benny Gantz's labelling of the Palestinian NGOs as ‘terrorist’ groups in October was followed by a military order effectively banning the six organisations in November.

Later that month, six Palestinian activists and employees at the banned civil society groups announced that their phones had been hacked with Israeli spyware ‘Pegasus’. The announcement was reported by the Irish-based non-profit ‘Front Line Defenders’, together with Amnesty International.