Selective punishment

SIR – The Israeli hand that signs administrative detention orders added this week Khalida Jarrar, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, to the shameful list of such detainees. Jarrar is an activist of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and a member of the Palestinian team that monitors relations with the International Criminal Court in the Hague. She joins some 450 administrative detainees held in prison with no legal process.

These prisoners are not permitted to give evidence or get any details of the ‘charges’ against them. Usually, they do not know when their detention will end. This is a harsh infringement of civil and prisoners rights.Israel makes excessive use of the detentions without letting the public know whether there is any justification for them.

There is no better evidence of the contempt for human rights than in the Israeli security services excessive abuse of their authority. This is how Israel seeks to deter every peaceful public activist – not to mention one involved with advancing the processes in the International Criminal Court – from realising his or her rights.

Is this a further example of selective punishment by an apartheid state on a trumped up charge, like breaking a curfew? If Khalida Jarrar broke the law, Israel must put her on trial and prove she committed a crime. However, if the reason for her detention is revenge, she must be released immediately.

Thank you,

Daniel Teegan,

Pairc na Fana,

Union Hall.