Administrative Detention

In administrative detention, a person is imprisoned not for a proven offense but on the claim that they intend to break the law in the future. In the occupied West Bank, the Israeli military commander may order detention for up to six months at a time on “reasonable grounds” of regional or public security — and may renew the order repeatedly, with no ceiling on the total time. The evidence is classified: neither the detainee nor their lawyer is told the allegations or shown the material, making the detention effectively impossible to contest.

A veneer of judicial review exists: detainees must be brought before a military judge within eight days, with appeals to a military court of appeals and to Israel’s High Court of Justice. In practice, B’Tselem reports, judges almost always accept the prosecution’s position and the secrecy of the evidence, rendering the review largely a façade. Israel has held thousands of Palestinians this way over the years, some for years on end and some under 18; the figure crossed 1,000 several times during the Second Intifada, and human rights organizations say it is also used against non-violent political activity and as a shortcut when evidence is insufficient for trial.

International humanitarian law permits an occupying power to use administrative detention only in rare, exceptional circumstances for imperative security reasons. Human rights organizations — Israeli, Palestinian, and international, including Amnesty International — argue that Israel’s routine, large-scale use of the measure breaches that standard and amounts to arbitrary detention; Israel maintains it is a necessary preventive tool against planned attacks, used under judicial supervision.

Sources

• Administrative Detention — B’Tselem
• Starved of Justice: Palestinians Detained Without Trial by Israel — Amnesty International, 2012