UN renews call for Israel to end detention of Palestinian lawyer Salah Hammouri

United Nations Secretary-General spokesperson Stephane Dujarric renewed his calls for Israel to either release Palestinians under administrative detention or bring charges against them if any exist.

He drew particular attention to the case of human rights lawyer Salah Hammouri.

"We are closely following the situation of Mr. Hammouri and other Palestinian administrative detainees held by Israel. We’re aware that there are about 30 detainees, including him, who’ve recently ended their hunger strike, which had been going on since September," Dujarric said at a press briefing.

He reiterated an ongoing UN demands for Israel "to end the practice of [keeping] administration detainees, by either releasing people or charging them when there are grounds to do so."

An Israeli court last month renewed the administrative detention of Hammouri, a dual Palestinian-French national, for an additional three months.

He has been detained without charge since being detained last March at his residence in Kafr Aqab, a Palestinian town lying between Jerusalem and Ramallah which Israel has annexed in violation of international law.

Earlier this week, a number of UN experts issued a statement condemning Israel’s detention of Hammouri as "unlawful and sadistic."

"We are concerned by Israel’s pervasive misuse of administrative and criminal law proceedings and use of secret information against Palestinians, including human rights defenders such as Mr. Hammouri," said the experts.

"This is a deliberate measure designed to silence human rights defenders, which has a profound chilling effect on all Palestinian and Israeli civil society actors," they added.

According to the Palestinian Prisoners' Club, Israel has detained around 5,300 Palestinians so far in 2022.

Currently, some 800 Palestinians are held in Israeli jails without charge, under administrative detention orders, according to human rights groups.