UN calls Israel's expulsion of Palestinian human rights lawyer Salah Hammouri a 'war crime'

Israel's expulsion of French-Palestinian human rights lawyer Salah Hammouri amounts to a "war crime", the UN human rights office said Monday.

Hamouri, 37, arrived in France on Sunday after having been held without charge in Israel under administrative detention, a controversial practice that allows suspects to be detained for renewable periods of up to six months.

"Deporting a protected person from occupied territory is a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention, constituting a war crime," UN human rights spokesman Jeremy Laurence said in a statement.

Israel has accused Hammouri of being a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and of being a security threat. Hammouri denies links to the PFLP.

In condemning his expulsion, Laurence said: "We are deeply concerned by the chilling message this sends to those working on human rights" in occupied east Jerusalem.

In 2017, Hammouri's family was divided after Israel barred Elsa, his wife, from entering the country. Elsa, who is a French citizen, was pregnant at the time. The Israeli authorities based the decision not to admit Elsa to the country on secret evidence.  

Hammouri spent more than eight years in Israeli jails in separate terms.