Family says Palestinian lawmaker’s detention extended by Israel
Khalida Jarrar, accused of being a senior member of a terror group, has been held for nearly a year without charges, was scheduled for release at the end of the month
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The family of a female Palestinian lawmaker who has been held without charge for nearly a year said that Israel has extended her detention by four months.
Khalida Jarrar was scheduled to be released on June 30. But her husband, Ghassan, said Sunday that her lawyer was informed of the extension by Israeli authorities.
Jarrar, a legislator in the largely defunct Palestinian parliament, is being held under “administrative detention,” an Israeli policy that permits holding people for months at a time without charges.
In 2015, she served 15 months after being convicted of incitement to violence and “promoting terror activities.”
Jarrar was arrested on July 2, 2017 for being a senior member in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a far-left movement considered a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States and the European Union. She was arrested “on suspicion of involvement with terrorist activities and violent public disturbances,” according to an army statement at the time, but has never been charged, instead being held under administrative detention.
On December 24, the detention was extended by another six months “after security personnel found she still poses a substantial threat,” the Israeli army said.
Details of the accusations against her are secret, as is customary with Israeli administrative detention orders, which allow detention without trial for renewable six-month periods.
Her husband calls it a “political” detention.
The military had no immediate comment.
Jarrar was elected in 2006 to the PLC but the Palestinian parliament has not met since 2007 after elections were won by the Islamist terror movement Hamas.
Many PFLP leaders are in custody and Jarrar has been jailed multiple times.
The 54-year-old had only been released in June 2016 after 14 months in an Israeli jail, after being convicted of encouraging attacks against Israelis. She is the 11th member of the Palestinian parliament currently in jail, according to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club NGO.
Israel says administrative detention is intended to allow authorities to hold suspects while continuing to gather evidence, with the aim of preventing attacks in the meantime.
But the system has been criticized by Palestinians, human rights groups, and members of the international community, who say Israel abuses the measure.
The Times of Israel Community.