UN independent rights experts on Tuesday, described Israel’s
conviction of human rights defender Issa Amro earlier this month,
as showing disdain for the country’s international obligations.
The comments came after the 6 January conviction by an Israeli
military court of the Palestinian human rights defender and
founder of Youth Against Settlements, a Hebron-based group, which
opposes settlement expansion through non-violent civil
resistance.
In a statement from the UN human rights office, OHCHR, issued on
Tuesday, the experts said that the country must immediately stop
using its array of military security tools “to obstruct the
legitimate and indispensable work of human rights defenders.”
“Rather than prosecuting human rights defenders, Israel should be
listening to them and correcting its own human rights conduct”,
the UN Special Rapporteurs said, urging the country to obey its
international obligations to provide protection to human rights
defenders.
Mr. Amro was convicted of six charges related to his human rights
activities between 2010 and 2016. The experts said they fear he
will be imprisoned when he is sentenced on 8 February.
Systematic pattern
“This is part of a clear and systematic pattern of detention,
judicial harassment and intimidation by Israel of human rights
defenders, a pattern that has increased in intensity recently”,
the experts continued.
They said Israeli authorities had arrested Mr. Amro numerous
times, with the aim of silencing those who would defend the human
rights of others.
The UN experts Mr. Michael Lynk, Special Rapporteur on the
situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied
since 1967, and Ms. Mary Lawlor, Special Rapporteur on the
situation of human rights defenders, added that convicting him
for participating in demonstrations without a permit, is contrary
to new developments in international human rights law.
“The failure to notify authorities of an upcoming assembly does
not in itself render the act of participating in the assembly as
unlawful”, they stated.
Mr. Amro was convicted of three counts relating to participation
in demonstrations without a permit. Another two counts relate to
obstructing security forces, which concerned alleged refusal to
accompany Israeli law enforcement officers during arrest. He was
also convicted of assault, for allegedly pushing a settlement
guard in 2010.
“This conviction is part of a pattern where Israeli military law
is used to restrict and penalise Palestinians for exercising
their inviolable political and civil rights.”, the experts
concluded, adding that the conviction appeared to be politically
motivated.
Long history
Mr. Amro was first put on trial in an Israeli military court in
2016 on 18 charges dating back to 2010, including incitement,
entering a closed military zone, and participating in a march
without a permit. He had been taking part in a peaceful protest
calling for the re-opening of Shuhada Street, the former
commercial centre of Hebron.
The Special Rapporteurs and other human rights experts have sent
several letters to Israel seeking clarifications regarding Issa
Amro’s case, according to the OHCHR statement.
Special Rapporteurs and independent human rights experts are
appointed by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council and are
neither UN staff nor paid for their work.
