Prisoner rights leader Abdul Latif Ghaith banned from entering the West Bank or leaving Palestine

gheithAbdul Latif Ghaith, chairman of the board of Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, was again subjected to a travel ban by Israeli occupation forces on September 28, 2014.

Occupation authorities issued two travel bans to Ghaith, who lives in Jerusalem. He is barred from entering the West Bank for a six month period, until March 15, 2015, and from traveling abroad until February 23, 2015.

They provided no substantive reasons for the travel bans, to which Ghaith has been subject for the past three years, since October 9, 2011. His ban on entering the West Bank has been renewed seven times. Ghaith was called for an interview by Israeli intelligence at the Moskobiya compound in Jerusalem, where he was presented with the renewed travel bans. The Israeli military claims in its order that “the ban is necessary and mandatory to protect the region’s security and public order.”

Ghaith, 72, is a respected Palestinian human rights advocate and well-known national figure. He co-founded Addameer in 1992, and spent several years in administrative detention without charge or trial, most recently in 2004-2005.

The travel ban on Ghaith comes in addition to other recent attacks on Addameer’s operations, including the arrest of legal unit coordinator Ayman Nasser and the attempt to expel board member Khalida Jarrar to Jericho.