NEW YORK (Dispatches) – The Zionist regime’s decision to deport French-Palestinian human rights defender and lawyer Salah Hammouri to France against his will may constitute a war crime under the Geneva Convention, UN experts says, reports Anadolu Agency.
The occupying regime reaffirmed the revocation of Hammouri’s permanent residency in Al-Quds on November 30.
Authorities said Hammouri would be deported December 4 to France because of his alleged “breach of allegiance” to the occupying regime and based on secret evidence.
“Such unilateral, arbitrary measures taken by Israeli authorities in retaliation against Mr. Hammouri as a human rights defender violate every principle and the very spirit of international law,” said experts.
The experts are Francesca Albanese, special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967 and Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, special rapporteur on the protection of human rights while countering terrorism.
Special rapporteurs are part of the Human Rights Council’s Special Procedures, the largest body of independent UN human rights experts.
The deportation of protected persons from an occupied territory is prohibited under Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, said experts.
“These measures set an extremely dangerous precedent for all Palestinians in Al-Quds. The international community must not remain silent and quietly watch this umpteenth violation,” they said.
Hammouri is a human rights lawyer known for advocating for the rights of prisoners, including torture survivors.
He works with the Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association – an internationally respected human rights organization – and the UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture grantee.
The Zionist regime designated Addameer and other Palestinian civil society organizations as “terrorist” and “unlawful” in October 2021.
Hammouri was placed in so-called administrative detention on March 7 without charge or trial.
In another development, a Zionist regime court on Sunday rejected a petition to release Nael al-Barghouthi, the longest-serving Palestinian detainee in the regime’s jails, according to a local NGO.
In a statement, the Palestinian Prisoner Society said the Ofer Military Court decided to maintain a life sentence against the Palestinian detainee citing a “secret file” against him.
Al-Barghouthi, 65, has been in prison for 43 years.
In 2011, he was released under a prisoner swap deal between Palestinian resistance group Hamas and the occupying regime.
In 2014, however, he was rearrested and his sentence reinstated.