I am publishing here my press release of today expressing urgent concern about the fate of Khader Adnan, a Palestinian activist, who is near death resulting from his continuing hunger strike that expresses his refusal to accept the humiliating conditions of imprisonment without charges and accompanied by an Israeli court approved denial of visitation rights to his wife. Please do whatever you can to exert pressure to obtain the immediate release of Mr. Adnan, and to make the world aware that Israel is responsible for respecting his rights and protecting his wellbeing. The text below is released under the auspices of the UN Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights, and prepared in my role as Special Rapporteur for Occcupied Palestine of the Human Rights Council.
*****
> Israel: UN rights expert appeals for international help for a Palestinian
> prisoner on hunger strike
>
> CAIRO / GENEVA (15 February 2012) – The United Nations Special Rapporteur
> on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied
> since 1967, Richard Falk, expressed his urgent and extreme concern
> regarding the situation of Palestinian prisoner Khader Adnan, and urged
> the international community to intervene on his behalf.
>
> “I call on the international community, especially States with close
> relations with Israel, to urge the Israeli Government to fulfill its
> responsibilities under international law, most urgently with regard to Mr.
> Adnan,” the human rights expert said. Mr. Adnan, whose life is reportedly
> in jeopardy, has maintained a hunger strike for 60 days in response to the
> humiliating circumstances of his imprisonment without charges by the
> Government of Israel.
>
> “In view of the emergency of his situation, the Government of Israel must
> take immediate and effective action to safeguard Mr. Adnan’s life, while
> upholding his rights,” stressed the Special Rapporteur, who is currently
> undertaking a fact-finding mission to the region.
>
> Mr. Falk also called on the Government of Israel to respect its legal
> obligations pertaining to the several thousand Palestinians it has
> imprisoned. “The improper treatment of thousands of Palestinian prisoners
> by the Government of Israel should be of great concern to the
> international community, and it is a problem that I am paying close
> attention to in the context of my ongoing visit to the region.”
>
> The Special Rapporteur will convene a press conference at the end of his
> regional visit, on 20 February in Amman, and will submit a full report on
> his mission to the Human Rights Council in June 2012.
>
> ENDS
>
> In 2008, the UN Human Rights Council designated Richard Falk (United
> States of America) as the fifth Special Rapporteur on the situation of
> human rights on Palestinian territories occupied since 1967. The mandate
> was originally established in 1993 by the UN Commission on Human Rights.
>
> Learn more about the mandate and work of the Special Rapporteur:
> http://www2.ohchr.org/english/countries/ps/mandate/index.htm
>
> OHCHR Country Page – Occupied Palestinian Territories:
> http://www.ohchr.org/EN/countries/MENARegion/Pages/PSIndex.aspx
>
> OHCHR Country Page – Israel:
> http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Countries/MENARegion/Pages/ILIndex.aspx
>
> For more information and media requests, please contact Kevin Turner (+41
> (0)79 509 0557 / kturner@ohchr.org) or write to sropt@ohchr.org.
>
> For media inquiries related to other UN independent experts:
> Xabier Celaya, OHCHR Media Unit (+ 41 22 917 9383 / xcelaya@ohchr.org)
>
> UN Human Rights, follow us on social media:
> Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/unitednationshumanrights
> Twitter: http://twitter.com/UNrightswire
> YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/UNOHCHR
>
> Check the Universal Human Rights Index: http://uhri.ohchr.org/en
>
Global Justice in the 21st Century 
You may want to try adding a StumbleUpon button to your page. This is something I would “Stumble” to get the word out. Adding a Twitter button is also very helpful. These are found in your dashboard under Settings/Sharing. Good luck to you and to Mr. Adnan.
Professor, while I can sympathize with the sorry plight of Mr. Adnan being held without charges and the Israeli authorities denying his wife visiting privileges, there is something more insidious happening much closer to home with the signing of the NDAA New Year eve by President Obama.
This Law allows the US military to detain any American Citizen in America indefinitely without trial based only on suspicion in some Gitmo type facility, and denying even a visit from a lawyer .
The NDAA repealed the 1st right and protection the peasants got from the arbitrary whims of the authority with Habeus Corpus from the Magan Carta of 1215, the bedrock principle of Democratic evolution since then. With the exception of Chris Hedges, it is not being discussed in the msm and all the opinionated 24 hour news spinners and the people are asleep as if it is otherworldly and will not affect them.
Silence is consent they say. The consequences of the signing of this Act will not be fully understood until the austerity now being imposed on Greece comes to America but then it will be too late to change it.
END OF FREEDOM AND DEMOCRACY
http://ray032.wordpress.com/2012/01/11/end-of-freedom-and-democracy/
As always, Ray, I am instructed by and grateful for your vigilance.
Of course, my concern with the plight of Khader Adnan does not mean that I cannot also share your worries about NDAA. I will look further into the latter.
Safe passage, my friend.
How can we help and support Khader Adnan?
Best, Karl
Thanks Karl for being ‘there’!!!
Khader Adnan is reportedly close to death. Every means to make our concern and outrage visible, especially exerting pressure via media and appeals to governments and the UN.
I am writing from Cairo..
I am pleased to read of your current mission to Palestinian territories and wish you success in your efforts to shed light on truths of the cruel occupation that affects the lives of so many Palestinians. Apparently, Israel’s allies have forgotten the value of human lives withering in the shadows of their glorious political agendas. So many of us are troubled by the international community’s silence on humanitarian issues like Mr. Adnan’s plight for the sake of freedom and justice. Our voices can only echo the deafening cry for help Mr. Adnan makes from the pit of his hell in Israel. Let him know his resounding cries shatter our hearts for good, as they will also crumble the walls of inequity and injustice that hold him and his people prisoners. We will not abandon him nor the fight for Palestine’s freedom from the cruel Israeli regime. Our love to our brother Khader and to his family! Our prayers of faith are with you!
Israel must live up to it’s obligation under the international humanitarian law by releasing Khadar Adna. He has not done anything to warrant this inhumane treatment.
The only one who has all powers to save the life of Adnan from death by inanition is himself.
The legal basis for Israel’s use of Administrative Detention is the British Mandate 1945 Law on Authority in States of Emergency’ as amended in 1979. Administrative detention is often used in cases where the available evidence consists of information obtained by the security services (particularly the Shin Bet), and where a trial would reveal sensitive security information, such as the identities of informers or infiltrators.
Although it is most commonly applied to alleged Palestinian militants and their accomplices, it has also been applied to Jewish Israeli citizens, including Jewish right-wing public-figures and activists (e.g. in the aftermath of the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin).
Within Israel, the Defense Minister has the authority to issue Administrative Detention orders for up to 6 months in cases where there is a reasonable chance that the person harms the security of the state. The same Minister has the authority to renew such orders. Likewise, the Chief of the General Staff can issue such orders, but valid for only 48 hours. Law enforcement authorities have to show cause within 48 hours (in a hearing behind closed doors). Administrative Detention orders can be appealed to the District Court and, if denied there, to the Supreme Court of Israel. The District Court can annul such orders if it finds the administrative detention occurred for reasons other than security (e.g., common crimes, or the exercise of freedom of expression). Overall supervisory authority on the application of the relevant law rests with the Minister of Justice.
Within the West Bank and Gaza Strip, any local army commander can issue an administrative detention order, and the order can be appealed at the local military court, or, if denied there, at the Supreme Court. Here too, an administrative detention order is valid for at most six months, but can be renewed by the appropriate authority. Israel refers its use of administrative detention in the occupied territories to Article 78 of the Fourth Geneva Convention 1949, which states that “If the Occupying Power considers it necessary, for imperative reasons of security, to take safety measures concerning protected persons, it may, at the most, subject them to assigned residence or to internment.”
Nearly all governments outlaw what is called administrative detention of suspected criminals, but it is just as true that nearly all declare exceptional circumstances when the rules don’t apply, among them ‘national security.’ Each country its own rules for how long a terrorism suspect can legally be detained without charge: from indefinite detention for ‘enemy combatants’ at the U.S. detention facility Guantanamo Bay, to nearly a year in Uganda, to four days in Spain.
Administrative Detention Legally OK from Days to Several Years in 85 Countries: Administrative detention is detention without charge or trial. Ihe International Commission of Jurists found in 2005 that:
“The resort to administrative detention on grounds of public order, State or national security … is not a new phenomenon…. In 1985, The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) counted at least some 85 countries provided with legislation allowing for the practice of the administrative detention for public order, State or national security grounds. Amongst these 85 countries, 43 provided deprivation of liberty for an indefinite period of time or several years or even decades. “
To Robert Soran – Schwarz:
even if a lot of other countries are practicing detentions being totally against human rights it doesn’t mean that the Israeli government isn’t responsible for done crimes.
In fact: we all should do our best to point out such done crimes in order to help to eliminate such behaviours whenever we have the possibility to rise our voices.
We are in the 21st century – it is high noon that such practises should be eliminated which relate to Middle Ages nd sho no real development in human behaviour.
Monalisa
These prisoners that you speak of, are terrorist same as the terorrist involved in the 9/11 which i guess you would more easily relate to.I am touched by there strong love for god and peacefulness that you wrote about..but you must remember that they are prisoned for killing inocent civilians (not soldiers mostly). To clear the different between Israel’s soldiers and Hamas/any other terrorist is the fact that Israel’s soldiers protect civilians as there goal (including gava’s civilians (taking them to hospitals on the Israeli side of the border for better care) in contradiction to Hamas Terrorists (the ones you speak of) that there goal (and sadly fulfilled it) was to kill as many civilians(children and mothers including ) as possible.
How do think the states would treat the 9/11 terrorist if one them was a live??think about that please…I think Israel is the country who might i say keeps the terrorist in best condinitions even after they comitted such horrible murders!