Held for a Year Without Trial, Israel Extends Detention of Palestinian Lawmaker

Khalida Jarrar in the courtroom of the Ofer detention facility, in May.\ AP

The Israel Defense Forces has extended the administrative detention of Palestinian lawmaker Khalida Jarrar by four months, military officials confirmed on Sunday. Jarrar, who has yet to stand trial, has been in administrative detention since July. As is the case with such arrests, details of the accusations against her remain confidential.

The army claimed in the past that it had "intelligence pointing to Jarrar being an activist in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which is defined as a terrorist organization."

The legislator's detention was previously extended in December, after security personnel determined that "she still poses a tangible risk."

Joint List MK Yousef Jabareen condemned the extension by a military court on Sunday, declaring that it was unlawful to put a public official such as Jarrar under administrative detention "based on secret intelligence, without giving her the right to defend herself in court."

Jabareen added that, "Israel holds hundreds of Palestinians under administrative warrants for months and years without indicting them. These administrative detainees have their basic rights as prisoners in criminal proceedings revoked, in direct opposition to what is stated in international law."

Jarrar, a resident of the town of al-Bireh near Ramallah in the West Bank, was elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council in 2006 as a member of the PFLP, which is designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.

In April 2015, Jarrar was initially arrested, held in administrative detention for six months and then charged with security-related offenses. In December 2015, she was sentenced to 15 months in prison after a plea bargain was struck between the military prosecutor and her lawyers. She was released in June 2016, but was then put in administrative detention for a second time the following month.

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