Without Charge or Trial

Thousands of Palestinian university students and school children have been arrested over the last four years. Most students are arrested on their way to and from university at military checkpoints, while others are arrested during army raids on student homes and dormitories. These students are taken to a detention center and interrogated, often involving some form of abuse or torture such as beatings, sleep and food depravation and being tied in painful positions for long periods.

Hundreds of students and school children are now being held in ‘Administrative Detention’. In Israel’s case, administrative detention is imprisonment without charge or trial. Detention orders are initially for a maximum of 6 months but can be extended indefinitely. Some student prisoners have been held in administrative detention for years. Any information or evidence relating to a case is declared ‘secret’ and withheld from both the detainee and his/her lawyer, making the possibility for a meaningful defense redundant. The Right to Education Campaign urges supporters to write to the Israeli Ministry of Defense demanding the release of student prisoners held in administrative detention, on the basis of their right to education and the illegality of their detention without charge or trial.