September, 08 2010, 11:51am EDT

Israel: Activist Convicted After Unfair Trial
Leader of Protests on Unlawful Land Confiscation Faces 20 Years in Jail
WASHINGTON
An Israeli military court's conviction of Abdullah Abu Rahme, an
advocate of nonviolent protests against Israel's de facto confiscation
of land from the West Bank village of Bil'in, raises grave due process
concerns, Human Rights Watch said today. On August 24, 2010, Abu Rahme,
who has been detained for more than eight months, was convicted on
charges of organizing and participating in illegal demonstrations and
inciting protestors to damage the separation barrier, throw stones at
Israeli soldiers, and participate in violent protests.
The convictions were based on allegations that did not specify any
particular incidents of wrongdoing and on statements by children who
retracted them in court, alleging they were coerced, and who did not
understand Hebrew, the language in which Israeli military interrogators
prepared the statements they signed. Abu Rahme, a 39-year-old
schoolteacher, helped organize protests against the route of the Israeli
separation barrier that has cut off Bil'in villagers' access to more
than 50 percent of their agricultural lands, on which an Israeli
settlement is being built. He remains in custody pending sentencing, and
could face 20 years in prison.
"Israel's conviction of Abu Rahme for protesting the unlawful
confiscation of his village's land is the unjust result of an unfair
trial," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights
Watch. "The Israeli authorities are effectively banning peaceful
expression of political speech by convicting supporters of nonviolent
resistance."
Human Rights Watch reported
in March that Israel has detained dozens of Palestinians who advocate
nonviolent protests against the separation barrier and charged them
based on questionable evidence, including allegedly coerced confessions
from minors.
Israeli soldiers arrested Abu Rahme on December 10 at 2 a.m., when
seven military jeeps surrounded his home in Ramallah, where he had
resided for two years. An Israeli military court indicted Abu Rahme on
December 21 on charges of incitement, stone throwing, and illegal
possession of weapons. The arms possession charge was based on an art
exhibit, in the shape of a peace sign, that Abu Rahme constructed out of
used M16 bullet cartridges and tear gas canisters that the Israeli army
had used to quell protests in Bil'in. Abu Rahme was ultimately
acquitted of this charge. On January 18, military prosecutors added the
charge of organizing and participating in illegal demonstrations to the
indictment. Because Abu Rahme's interrogation had already ended, he was
never questioned about this charge.
Demonstrations against the separation barrier often turn violent,
with Palestinian youths throwing rocks at Israeli soldiers. Violence at
demonstrations may result in the arrest of those who participate in or
incite violence, but it does not justify the arrest of activists who
have simply called for or supported peaceful protests against the wall,
Human Rights Watch said. Under international law, authorities can
prosecute organizers of demonstrations or other assemblies only if
evidence exists that the organizers of the assembly are themselves
directly responsible for violence or incitement to violence. The
authorities have a duty to ensure the protection of the right to
assembly even if a demonstration leads to violence by others.
The indictment states that from August 2005 to June 2009, Abu Rahme
was a member of a popular committee that, on Fridays, led villagers from
Bil'in "in mass marches meant to disturb order" by attempting to damage
the separation barrier and by "instructing" youth from the village to
"throw stones at the [Israeli] security forces."
"The defendant also prepared bottles and balloons filled with chicken
feces, which the protestors then threw at the security forces," the
indictment stated.
Abu Rahme's conviction on both the incitement and the organizing and
participating in illegal demonstration charges raises serious due
process concerns.
Abu Rahme was convicted of offenses that the prosecution alleged he
committed at various, unspecified times over the course of four years -
from 2005 to 2009 - rather than on any particular dates, which made
it impossible for the defendant to provide an adequate defense for his
actions. The prosecution failed to specify when supposed offenses took
place and what the form the offenses took, and the interrogators did not
ask specific questions regarding the defendant's role in the alleged
incitement and organization of protests. The verdict acknowledged that
"the witnesses' interrogations should have been more comprehensive and
exhaustive and should have gone to more details regarding the offenses."
The only evidence that Abu Rahme incited others to throw stones was a
statement by one 16-year-old child to this effect, and by another
16-year-old that Abu Rahme prepared balloons filled with chicken feces
for protestors to throw at soldiers. Both youths later retracted their
statements, saying that they were threatened and beaten by their
interrogators. The interrogators denied threatening and abusing them in
detention, and the court accepted the interrogators' account rather than
the boys'. However, the state did not contest that the interrogations
of both youths occurred in highly threatening circumstances. They were
interrogated the morning after being arrested by the Israeli military
during raids on their homes, between 1 a.m. and 4 a.m., and having been
accused of throwing stones.
The state did not contest that the children's parents or guardians
were not present during their interrogations, in violation of an Israeli
court ruling on the issue. The boys were denied access to lawyers until
after their interrogations. Neither youth could read Hebrew, the
language in which the statements they signed were written. The
interrogating officers admitted that they had received no training in
questioning minors, that the minors did not read Hebrew, and that they
had neglected to ask the witnesses many relevant and specific questions
concerning the charges brought against the defendant.
One other child witness whose statements the court also admitted as
evidence claimed only that Abu Rahme was a member of the Bil'in popular
committee and that he participated in the protests.
All the child witnesses claimed to have been abused during
interrogation. H. Y., 16, claimed in court that the soldiers who
arrested him beat him and that from the time he was arrested until the
next day when his interrogation began, he was left handcuffed and
blindfolded on the ground, without food. The children stated in court
that their signed statements incriminating Abu Rahme were prepared by
their interrogators in Hebrew, a language they could not read. A.B., a
fourth witness who was not a minor, testified that he signed his
"confession" after his interrogator threatened to beat him and to put
him in solitary confinement. K.H., 16, said he signed his confession
after the interrogating officer yelled at him, threatened to hurt his
parents, and hit him.
The military court declared the children to be "hostile witnesses"
for contradicting the statements they had signed during their
investigation, and accepted their statements as evidence. The verdict
states that there was no need to take into account the alleged
"circumstances of the arrest," because the youths did not mention those
circumstances in the trial or during their interrogation, and did not
complain that their judgment had been "impeded." The verdict further
argued that the children's testimony during the trial was not credible,
noting that two of them "smiled" during the trial and that three had
lied and given "dishonest testimonies." For example, one witness stated
there was no "popular committee" in Bil'in, but later said the
"committee members" were angry at him for throwing stones. By contrast,
the verdict found that the witnesses' statements to the police had an
"inner logic," without acknowledging that these statements were prepared
by an Israeli security official in a language the witnesses could not
read, and that they signed these statements in a coercive atmosphere
after having been arrested in the middle of the night and interrogated
in violation of Israeli law.
The court chose to disregard statements by character witnesses
indicating that Abu Rahme has long been committed to nonviolent protest.
Dov Khenin, a member of the Israeli parliament, and Dr. Gershon Baskin,
founder and director of the Israel-Palestine Center for Research and
Information, testified on the defendant's behalf as character witnesses.
An Israeli protester, Jonathan Pollack, acknowledged Palestinian youths
often have thrown stones but told Human Rights Watch that he had
attended "dozens" of protests with Abu Rahme and had never seen him
incite others to violence.
On December 10, 2008, one year before Abu Rahme's arrest, he received
the Carl Von Ossietzky Medal for Outstanding Service in the Realization
of Basic Human Rights, awarded by the International League for Human
Rights in Berlin. European Union (EU) High Representative Catherine
Ashton said in August 2010 that the EU considered Abu Rahme to be "a
Human Rights Defender committed to nonviolent protest."
Abu Rahme was convicted of incitement to throw stones and of
organizing illegal protests, based on article 7(a) of Israeli military
order 101 of 1967, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years and
prohibits "attempting, whether verbally or otherwise, to influence
public opinion in the Area [of the West Bank] in a way that may disturb
the public peace or public order." Abu Rahme was also convicted of
organizing and participating in illegal protests under the same military
order (articles 1, 3, and 10), which requires obtaining a permit for
any gathering of 10 people or more listening to a speech "that can be
interpreted as political," or for any 10 people or more walking together
for a purpose "that can be viewed as political." Persons who call for
or "support" such gatherings are subject to the same penalties. The
civil law applied within Israel, by contrast, requires a permit only for
"political" gatherings of more than 50 people.
Another Bil'in resident, Adeeb Abu Rahme, was the first person to be
charged by Israeli military prosecutors with organizing illegal
demonstrations and with incitement since the first Palestinian intifada,
which ended in 1993, according to Abdullah Abu Rahme's lawyer, Gaby
Lasky, and to the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements, of
which Abdullah Abu Rahme is a leader. The same charges have been used
against four members of Bil'in's popular committee, including Abdullah
and Adeeb Abu Rahme, and these represent the first such charges in close
to 20 years. Abdullah Abu Rahme's conviction and the subsequent use of
these offenses to charge other protestors raise concerns that Israeli
authorities are applying the law selectively to stifle non-violent
protest leaders.
Sentencing is scheduled for next month, after which Abu Rahme will appeal the conviction.
Background
Israel's separation barrier - in some places a fence, in others an
eight-meter-high concrete wall with guard towers - was ostensibly built
to protect against suicide bombers. However, unlike a similar barrier
between Israel and Gaza, it does not follow the 1967 border between
Israel and the West Bank. Instead, 85 percent of the barrier's route
lies inside the West Bank, separating Palestinian residents from their
lands, restricting their movement, and in some places effectively
confiscating occupied territory, all unlawful under international
humanitarian law.
In Bil'in, the wall cuts villagers off from 50 percent of their land,
putting the land on the "Israeli" side. The Israeli settlement of
Mattityahu East is being built on the land to which the village no
longer has access. In September 2007, after years of protests organized
by Bil'in's Popular Committee, Israel's Supreme Court ruled that the
separation barrier in Bil'in must be rerouted to allow Bil'in villagers
access to more of their land; the military only recently began survey
work preliminary to rerouting the barrier.
The International Court of Justice ruled in a 2004 advisory opinion
that the wall's route was illegal because its construction inside the
West Bank was not justified by security concerns and contributed to
violations of international human rights law and international
humanitarian law applicable to occupied territory by impeding
Palestinians' freedom of movement, destroying property, and contributing
to unlawful Israeli settlement practices. Israel's High Court of
Justice has ruled that the wall must be rerouted in several places,
including near Bil'in, because the harm caused to Palestinians was
disproportionate, although the rulings would allow the barrier to remain
inside the West Bank in these and other areas.
In contrast to its treatment of those protesting the route of the
wall and other unlawful Israeli practices in the Occupied Territories
with overwhelmingly peaceful means, in January 2010 the Israeli Knesset
approved a wholesale amnesty to protesters involved in violent protests
in connection with the 2005 evacuation of Jewish settlements from Gaza.
In 2005, Abu Rahme's brother, Rateb Abu Rahme, was shot in his foot
and arrested for assaulting a border policeman and stone-throwing.
During the trial, the court ruled, based on filmed evidence, that the
border policeman had given false testimony. The Police Officers
Investigations Unit then indicted the soldier, who confessed that he had
fabricated the event; the border policeman was released after the
conclusion of the investigation and transferred to a different unit
within the Israel Defense Forces. Rateb Abu Rahme was acquitted.
Earlier this year, a military court decided not to investigate the
death of a relative of Abdullah Abu Rahme, Bassem Abu Rahme, who was
killed by a tear-gas canister during a Bil'in protest on April 17, 2009.
In July 2010 the Military Advocate General agreed to investigate the
event after the Abu Rahme family's lawyer threatened to petition the
High Court of Justice and after receiving the findings of forensic
experts, indicating that the canisters were fired directly at the
protester in violation of the open-fire regulations.
Human Rights Watch is one of the world's leading independent organizations dedicated to defending and protecting human rights. By focusing international attention where human rights are violated, we give voice to the oppressed and hold oppressors accountable for their crimes. Our rigorous, objective investigations and strategic, targeted advocacy build intense pressure for action and raise the cost of human rights abuse. For 30 years, Human Rights Watch has worked tenaciously to lay the legal and moral groundwork for deep-rooted change and has fought to bring greater justice and security to people around the world.
LATEST NEWS
National Team Member Becomes at Least 265th Palestinian Footballer Killed by Israel in Gaza
Muhannad al-Lili's killing by Israeli airstrike came as the world mourned the death of Portugal and Liverpool star Diogo Jota and his brother André Silva in a car crash in Spain.
Jul 04, 2025
Muhannad Fadl al-Lili, captain of the Al-Maghazi Services Club and a member of Palestine's national football team, died Thursday from injuries suffered during an Israeli airstrike on his family home in the central Gaza Strip earlier this week, making him the latest of hundreds of Palestinian athletes killed since the start of Israel's genocidal onslaught.
Al-Maghazi Services Club announced al-Lili's death in a Facebook tribute offering condolences to "his family, relatives, friends, and colleagues" and asking "Allah to shower him with his mercy."
The Palestine Football Association (PFA) said that "on Monday, a drone fired a missile at Muhannad's room on the third floor of his house, which led to severe bleeding in the skull."
"During the war of extermination against our people, Muhannad tried to travel outside Gaza to catch up with his wife, who left the strip for Norway on a work mission before the outbreak of the war," the association added. "But he failed to do so, and was deprived of seeing his eldest son, who was born outside the Gaza Strip."
According to the PFA, al-Lili is at least the 265th Palestinian footballer and 585th athlete to be killed by Israeli forces since they launched their assault and siege on Gaza following the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel. Sports journalist Leyla Hamed says 439 Palestinian footballers have been killed by Israel.
Overall, Israel's war—which is the subject of an International Court of Justice (ICJ) genocide case—has left more than 206,000 Palestinians dead, maimed, or missing, and around 2 million more forcibly displaced, starved, or sickened, according to Gaza officials.
The Palestine Chronicle contrasted the worldwide press coverage of the car crash deaths of Portuguese footballer Diogo Jota and his brother André Silva with the media's relative silence following al-Lili's killing.
"Jota's death was a tragedy that touched millions," the outlet wrote. "Yet the death of Muhannad al-Lili... was met with near-total silence from global sports media."
Last week, a group of legal experts including two United Nations special rapporteurs appealed to the Fédération Internationale de Football Association, the world football governing body, demanding that its Governance Audit and Compliance Committee take action against the Israel Football Association for violating FIFA rules by playing matches on occupied Palestinian territory.
In July 2024, the ICJ found that Israel's then-57-year occupation of Palestine—including Gaza—is an illegal form of apartheid that should be ended as soon as possible.
During their invasion and occupation of Gaza, Israeli forces have also used sporting facilities including Yarmouk Stadium for the detention of Palestinian men, women, and children—many of whom have reported torture and other abuse at the hands of their captors.
Keep ReadingShow Less
'Highly Inspiring' Court Ruling Affirms Nations' Legal Duty to Combat Climate Emergency
"While the United States and some other major polluters have chosen to ignore climate science, the rest of the international community is advancing protections," said one observer.
Jul 04, 2025
In a landmark advisory opinion published Thursday, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights—of which the United States, the world's second-biggest carbon polluter, is not a member—affirmed the right to a stable climate and underscored nations' duty to act to protect it and address the worsening planetary emergency.
"States must refrain from any conduct that reverses, slows down, or truncates the outcome of measures necessary to protect human rights in the face of the impacts of climate change," a summary of the 234-page ruling states. "Any rollback of climate or environmental policies that affect human rights must be exceptional, duly justified based on objective criteria, and comply with standards of necessity and proportionality."
"The court also held that... states must take all necessary measures to reduce the risks arising, on the one hand, from the degradation of the global climate system and, on the other, from exposure and vulnerability to the effects of such degradation," the summary adds.
"States must refrain from any conduct that reverses, slows down, or truncates the outcome of measures necessary to protect human rights in the face of the impacts of climate change."
The case was brought before the Costa-Rica based IACtHR by Chile and Colombia, both of which "face the daily challenge of dealing with the consequences of the climate emergency, including the proliferation of droughts, floods, landslides, and fires, among others."
"These phenomena highlight the need to respond urgently and based on the principles of equity, justice, cooperation, and sustainability, with a human rights-based approach," the court asserted.
IACtHR President Judge Nancy Hernández López said following the ruling that "states must not only refrain from causing significant environmental damage but have the positive obligation to take measures to guarantee the protection, restoration, and regeneration of ecosystems."
"Causing massive and irreversible environmental harm...alters the conditions for a healthy life on Earth to such an extent that it creates consequences of existential proportions," she added. "Therefore, it demands universal and effective legal responses."
The advisory opinion builds on two landmark decisions last year. In April 2024, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the Swiss government violated senior citizens' human rights by refusing to abide by scientists' warnings to rapidly phase out fossil fuel production.
The following month, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea found in an advisory opinion that greenhouse gas emissions are marine pollution under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and that signatories to the accord "have the specific obligation to adopt laws and regulations to prevent, reduce, and control" them.
The IACtHR advisory opinion is expected to boost climate and human rights lawsuits throughout the Americas, and to impact talks ahead of November's United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP30, in Belém, Brazil.
Climate defenders around the world hailed Thursday's advisory opinion, with United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk calling it "a landmark step forward for the region—and beyond."
"As the impact of climate change becomes ever more visible across the world, the court is clear: People have a right to a stable climate and a healthy environment," Türk added. "States have a bedrock obligation under international law not to take steps that cause irreversible climate and environmental damage, and they have a duty to act urgently to take the necessary measures to protect the lives and rights of everyone—both those alive now and the interests of future generations."
Amnesty International head of strategic litigation Mandi Mudarikwa said, "Today, the Inter-American Court affirmed and clarified the obligations of states to respect, ensure, prevent, and cooperate in order to realize human rights in the context of the climate crisis."
"Crucially, the court recognized the autonomous right to a healthy climate for both individuals and communities, linked to the right to a healthy environment," Mudarikwa added. "The court also underscored the obligation of states to protect cross-border climate-displaced persons, including through the issuance of humanitarian visas and protection from deportation."
Delta Merner, lead scientist at the Science Hub for Climate Litigation at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said in a statement that "this opinion sets an important precedent affirming that governments have a legal duty to regulate corporate conduct that drives climate harm."
"Though the United States is not a party to the treaty governing the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, this opinion should be a clarion call for transnational fossil fuel companies that have deceived the public for decades about the risks of their products," Merner added. "The era of accountability is here."
Markus Gehring, a fellow and director of studies in law at Hughes Hall at the University of Cambridge in England, called the advisory opinion "highly inspiring" and "seminal."
Drew Caputo, vice president of litigation for lands, wildlife, and oceans at Earthjustice, said that "the Inter-American Court's ruling makes clear that climate change is an overriding threat to human rights in the world."
"Governments must act to cut carbon emissions drastically," Caputo stressed. "While the United States and some other major polluters have chosen to ignore climate science, the rest of the international community is advancing protections for all from the realities of climate harm."
Climate litigation is increasing globally in the wake of the 2015 Paris climate agreement. In the Americas, Indigenous peoples, children, and green groups are among those who have been seeking climate justice via litigation.
However, in the United States, instead of acknowledging the climate emergency, President Donald Trump has declared an "energy emergency" while pursuing a "drill, baby, drill" policy of fossil fuel extraction and expansion.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Trump Admin Quietly Approves Massive Crude Oil Expansion Project
"This thinly analyzed decision threatens the lifeblood of the American Southwest," said one environmental attorney.
Jul 04, 2025
The Trump administration has quietly fast-tracked a massive oil expansion project that environmentalists and Democratic lawmakers warned could have a destructive impact on local communities and the climate.
As reported recently by the Oil and Gas Journal, the plan "involves expanding the Wildcat Loadout Facility, a key transfer point for moving Uinta basin crude oil to rail lines that transport it to refineries along the Gulf Coast."
The goal of the plan is to transfer an additional 70,000 barrels of oil per day from the Wildcat Loadout Facility, which is located in Utah, down to the Gulf Coast refineries via a route that runs along the Colorado River. Controversially, the Trump administration is also plowing ahead with the project by invoking emergency powers to address energy shortages despite the fact that the United States for the last couple of years has been producing record levels of domestic oil.
Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) and Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.) issued a joint statement condemning the Trump administration's push to approve the project while rushing through environmental impact reviews.
"The Bureau of Land Management's decision to fast-track the Wildcat Loadout expansion—a project that would transport an additional 70,000 barrels of crude oil on train tracks along the Colorado River—using emergency procedures is profoundly flawed," the Colorado Democrats said. "These procedures give the agency just 14 days to complete an environmental review—with no opportunity for public input or administrative appeal—despite the project's clear risks to Colorado. There is no credible energy emergency to justify bypassing public involvement and environmental safeguards. The United States is currently producing more oil and gas than any country in the world."
On Thursday, the Bureau of Land Management announced the completion of its accelerated environmental review of the project, drawing condemnation from climate advocates.
Wendy Park, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, described the administration's rush to approve the project as "pure hubris," especially given its "refusal to hear community concerns about oil spill risks." She added that "this fast-tracked review breezed past vital protections for clean air, public safety and endangered species."
Landon Newell, staff attorney for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, accused the Trump administration of manufacturing an energy emergency to justify plans that could have a dire impact on local habitats.
"This thinly analyzed decision threatens the lifeblood of the American Southwest by authorizing the transport of more than 1 billion gallons annually of additional oil on railcars traveling alongside the Colorado River," he said. "Any derailment and oil spill would have a devastating impact on the Colorado River and the communities and ecosystems that rely upon it."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular