September 1st, 1997 marked the fifth anniversary of the arrest of Ahmed Qatamesh, currently the longest held prisoner under administrative detention. Having undergone arrest, interrogation, torture, orders to be released, charges being changed and dropped, Ahmed will face the prospect of a renewal of his administrative detention order for the tenth time next month.

Administrative detention, in Israel's case is defined as the arrest and imprisonment of Palestinians without charge or trial by administrative rather than judicial procedures. Administrative orders may be issued by Israeli military officials for up to six months and the orders are renewable for an indefinite period. While administrative orders may be appealed, detainees have for the past year boycotted the Israeli Appeal Courts due to the fact that evidence forming the basis of the order are secret and not made available to the defendants counsel.

After Mr. Qatamesh's arrest by the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) from his home in Ramallah, he was subjected to an array of physical and psychological torture methods during a harsh interrogation period which lasted for 120 days resulting in temporary loss of consciousness due to strangulation, temporary blindness, and permanent respiratory problems. Nonetheless, at the end of the long and painful interrogation period the only charges which were leveled against Mr. Qatamesh were that he held a fake Identification Card, had possession of documents related to the PFLP (Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine) and that he refused to be finger printed.

On December 13, 1992 Judge Isaac Stern ruled that Mr. Qatamesh should be released on bail and held under house arrest. The military prosecution quashed the release order by appealing to the High Court in January 1993. In the ensuing ten months, the military prosecutors repeatedly attempted to delay the judicial proceedings and to coerce Mr. Qatamesh to confess. He was moved from one military jail to another rendering him incapable of appearing in court on his appointed court dates. His court hearings were repeatedly delayed by the prosecution who put forth new claims, changed the charge sheet and brought in more witnesses for the prosecution.

Despite all of these attempts to charge Ahmed with a crime, an order for Ahmed's release was made by an Appeal Court judge and another release order was issued by a military judge to Mr. Qatamesh on October 14, 1993. When the military prosecution failed to appeal this ruling within 36 hours as the law states, Suha Barghouti, Ahmed's wife, along with his mother went to the prison to take Ahmed home. When they reached the prison they were told that the prosecutor had just served Ahmed with a six-month administrative detention order. Since then the initial order has been renewed consecutively with no attempt by the Israeli military authorities to level charges against Mr. Qatamesh claiming incriminating evidence in a secret file that neither Mr. Qatamesh nor his lawyer, Leah Tsemel, have been allowed to see.

Although several campaigns have been launched in an attempt to release Mr. Qatamesh and local, Israeli and International human rights organizations have repeatedly questioned the legality and fairness of the system of administrative detention, the Israeli authorities continue to utilize this method of incarcerating Palestinians. To date over 250 Palestinian political prisoners are being held within Israeli prisons. The Israeli authority's inability to charge these individuals with any act which may be perceived as a crime confirms the every spreading conviction that administrative detainees are prisoners of conscience.

September 23, 1997