UN Special Rapporteur: Israeli occupation authorities continue to target human rights defenders in West Bank

GENEVA: The United Nations special rapporteur on human rights defenders, Mary Lawlor, stressed today that the Israeli occupation authorities continue to target human rights defenders in the West Bank, including Jerusalem. She pointed out that the occupation targets these individuals through prolonged administrative detention, without charge or trial, where they are subjected to humiliation and mistreatment, calling for an end to these practices. Lawlor stressed that five human rights defenders, including three women, were detained between October 2023 and March 2024, either from their homes or upon their return from abroad. The period of administrative detention orders ranged between four to six months. She said that four out of the five detainees were repeatedly slapped, beaten, and humiliated. They were transferred from one prison to another within a day or two and were forced to sign documents in Hebrew that they could not understand. The female detainees were held in dirty cells under deplorable condit ions and faced a lack of adequate nutrition. The UN Special Rapporteur called on the Israeli authorities to respect the right of detainees to a fair trial or to release the remaining human rights defenders immediately, along with dozens of other human rights defenders detained for their peaceful activities. Source: Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA