WEST BANK (Dispatches) – Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners languishing in the Zionist regime’s jails continue their boycott of the regime’s military courts for 16th consecutive day, in protest against the so-called policy of administrative detention.
Imprisoned under the controversial policy of “administrative detention,” at least 500 Palestinian inmates have been registering their protest at their detention without charge at the hands of the Tel Aviv regime by refusing to show up for their military court hearings since the beginning of the year, Palestine’s Wafa news agency reported on Sunday.
The boycott includes hearings for renewal of administrative detention orders, as well as appeal hearings and sessions at the regime’s so-called supreme court.
The detainees said in a statement that their move is a continuation of longstanding Palestinian efforts “to put an end to the unjust administrative detention practiced against our people by the occupation forces.”
They also noted that the regime’s use of administrative detention has expanded in recent years and many women, children and elderly people have been incarcerated under the controversial policy.
Palestinian prisoners are held under “administrative detention”, in which the Zionist regime keeps the detainees without charge for up to six months, a period which can be extended an infinite number of times. Women and minors are among those detainees.
The detention takes place on orders from a military commander and on the basis of what the regime describes as ‘secret’ evidence.
Some prisoners have been held in administrative detention for up to 11 years.
Palestinians and human rights groups say “administrative detention” violates the right to due process since evidence is withheld from prisoners while they are held for lengthy periods without being charged, tried, or convicted.
Palestinian detainees have continuously resorted to open-ended hunger strikes in an attempt to express their outrage at the detention.
Palestinian inmates have also been subjected to systematic torture, harassment and repression all through the years of occupation of the Palestinian territories.
More than 7,000 Palestinian prisoners are currently held in some 17 Israeli jails, with dozens of them serving multiple life sentences.