The appeal of Palestinian academic and administrative detainee Ahmad Qatamesh was denied on August 1, 2013, reported the Palestinian Prisoners Society.
Jawad Boulos, of PPS’ legal unit, said that the occupation courts have in facr given license to renew Qatamesh’s administrative detention. He has been held without charge or trial since April 21, 2011, and appealed the last four-month extension of his administrative detention, at a hearing on April 29, 2013. He was told he would be held until at least September 29, 2013.
In the court’s rejection of Qatamesh’s appeal, Boulos said that the judges noted that the director of the Shabak had himself taken up the file of Ahmed Qatamesh and supported his administrative detention, and the court noted that it would support his authority in the matter.
Boulos pointed out that the High Court’s use of the Shabak’s word on this issue nullifies any concept of judicial authority or review, and that the occupation courts are above all a mechanism to implement the policies of security services.
Qatamesh, a political writer and university lecturer, has received international support from Amnesty International among others, demanding his release from ongoing detention without charge or trial.
He was earlier detained for over five years without trial in the 1990s.
