Israel renews prisoner’s administrative detention order for fifth time

Israeli authorities renewed the administrative detention of Palestinian prisoner Omar Al-Bargouthi for the fifth time on the same day that he was set to be released, according to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS).

The PPS said Al-Bargouthi, 60, who is from the village of Kobar in the occupied West Bank district of Ramallah, has exhausted all legal avenues available to him in Israeli courts, including the Supreme Court, to fight for his release.

Courts have continuously renewed his detention claiming that authorities have a “secret file” indicating that Al-Bargouthu could endanger Israel’s security if released.

Al-Bargouthi’s administrative detention has been renewed five times since he was first detain on 19 November 2015. Before his most recent detention, Al-Bargouthi had been detained several times and had spent 26 years in Israeli prisons, 12 years of which under administrative detention.

PPS also announced that prisoner Ahmad Sami Ghneim would be released and his administrative detention order would not be renewed. It is unclear how long Ghneim had been held under administrative detention.

Israel’s policy of administrative detention has been widely condemned by rights groups, as it allows the sentencing of Palestinians for up to three to six months without evidence. It is renewable.