Human Rights Ambassador Concerned Over Arbitrary Arrest of Palestinian Human Rights Defender Hasan Karajah

Hasan Karajah was taken to Moskobiyyeh Interrogation Centre, without any formal charges.

(YORK, UK) - Human Rights Ambassador William Nicholas Gomes is concerned at the arbitrary arrest of Hasan Karajah in Israel, and at due process irregularities, including refusal of access to a lawyer.

Salem-News.com's Human Rights Ambassador is also concerned for the human rights defender's physical health given his medical condition.

Mr. Karajah was home a few hours ago, when Israeli soldiers arrived without a search warrant at 2.30 a.m.

Around 20 soldiers from the Israeli Defence forces raided Hasan Karajah's family home in Saffa. While raiding the home, male and female members of the family were locked in separate rooms by the soldiers, who among other things wanted to search Mr. Karajah's sister. They ultimately threatened and insulted her as while they spent the next three hours illegally searching their home.

Hasan Karajah was taken from his family home and interrogated. He was subsequently blindfolded and handcuffed and transferred to Moskobiyyeh Interrogation Centre, without any formal charges presented or an explanation provided to his family. Israel has a law called 'Administrative Detention' which allows Palestinian prisoners to be held indefinitely without charges or a trial.

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Prime Minister's Office 3 Kaplan St. Hakirya Jerusalem 91950 You’re Excellency

I am William Nicholas Gomes, Human Rights Ambassador for Salem-News.com.

I came to know about the situation from Front Line Defenders.

On 23 January 2013, human rights defender and youth activist Mr Hasan Karajah was arrested at his family home in the village of Saffa, near Ramallah, by Israeli forces. Mr Hasan Karajah is a prominent human rights defender who works on youth campaigns with Stop the Wall Movement, an organisation which peacefully advocates against the presence and expansion of the Wall, as well as defending prisoners' rights. He is currently being held in Moskobiyyeh Interrogation Centre in Jerusalem.

At 2.30 am on the morning of 23 January 2013, approximately 20 soldiers from the Israeli forces raided Hasan Karajah's family home in Saffa. During the raid, the male and female members of the family were locked in separate rooms by the soldiers, while they searched the house for three hours. A search warrant was not presented to the family. During the search, 3 computers and several personal documents and photos were confiscated. The soldiers also attempted to search the human right defender's sister, Ms Sumood Karajah. When she refused, the soldiers reportedly insulted and threatened her. The male members of the family were subsequently interrogated and ordered to present their ID cards and contact phone numbers.

Hasan Karajah was then taken outside the family home and interrogated. He was subsequently blindfolded and handcuffed and transferred to Moskobiyyeh Interrogation Centre, without any formal charges presented or an explanation provided to his family. Access to his lawyer has not been provided to the human rights defender, while soldiers did not allow necessary medication belonging to Hasan Karajah to be taken with him at the time of his arrest. The human rights defender suffers from inflammation and a contorted back.

Prior to his work at Stop the Wall Movement, Hasan Karajah was part of a youth development project in conjunction with the Tamer Institute for Community Education and the Bisan Center for Research and Development. He has also represented Palestinian youth abroad as part of his role at the Arab Thought Foundation on several occasions.

I am concerned by the arbitrary arrest of Hasan Karajah and at due process irregularities, including refusal of access to a lawyer. I am also concerned about the human rights defender's physical health given his medical condition.

I urge the authorities in Israel to:

Immediately and unconditionally release human rights defender Hasan Karajah, as I believe that he is being held solely as a result of his legitimate and peaceful work in the defence of human rights;

Take all necessary measures to guarantee the physical and psychological integrity of Hasan Karajah, including by ensuring he receives immediate and adequate medical attention, as well as access to his lawyer;

Guarantee in all circumstances that all human rights defenders in Israel and territories under Israeli control, including Palestine, are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals and free of all restrictions including judicial harassment.

Respectfully yours

William Nicholas Gomes
Human Rights Ambassador for Salem-News.com
www.williamnichoalsgomes.com

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Salem-News.com Human Rights Ambassador William Nicholas Gomes is a Bangladeshi journalist, human rights activist and author was born on 25 December, 1985 in Dhaka. As an investigative journalist he wrote widely for leading European and Asian media outlets.

He is also active in advocating for free and independent media and journalists’ rights, and is part of the free media movement, Global Independent Media Center – an activist media network for the creation of radical, accurate, and passionate telling of the truth. He worked for Italian news agency Asianews.it from year 2009 to 2011, on that time he was accredited as a free lance journalist by the press information department of Bangladesh. During this time he has reported a notable numbers of reports for the news agency which were translated into Chinese and Italian and quoted by notable number of new outlets all over the world.He, ideologically, identifies himself deeply attached with anarchism. His political views are often characterized as “leftist” or “left-wing,” and he has described himself as an individualist anarchist.