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STATEMENT ON THE TRIAL OF MR HUSSAM KHADER
Kole | 11/23/2005 - 15:31
HUSSAM KHADER, MEMBER OF THE PALESTINIAN LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL AND A POPULAR SENIOR FATEH LEADER, IS LIKELY TO BE CONVICTED AT HIS NEXT TRIAL HEARING ON 27 NOVEMBER 2005, DESPITE CONFIRMED ALLEGATIONS OF FABRICATED EVIDENCE AND POLITICALLY-MOTIVATED CHARGES
A REPORT ON MR KHADER’S TRIAL, ISSUED BY THE INTER-PARLIAMENTARY UNION (October 2005), CONCLUDED THAT:
“MR KHADER HAS NOT, SINCE HIS ARREST 2½ YEARS AGO, HAD THE BENEFIT OF COMPLIANCE WITH THE INTERNATIONAL RULES OF FAIR TRIAL”
AND DESCRIBED ISRAEL’S MILITARY COURTS AS “AN INSTRUMENT OF REPRESSION”
IF SENTENCED, MR KHADER WILL BE THE 2ND PALESTINIAN PARLIAMENTARIAN CONVICTED BY ISRAELI COURTS IN TRIALS THAT THE INTER-PARLIAMENTARY UNION HAS CONCLUDED VIOLATE INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS THAT GUARANTEE A FAIR TRIAL – MARWAN BARGHOUTI WAS PREVIOUSLY CONVICTED IN 2004
48 PARLIAMENTARIANS FROM AROUND THE WORLD HAVE CALLED FOR HUSSAM KHADER’S IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Hussam Khader’s 2½ year trial by an Israeli Military Court has been based on fabricated charges that the Israeli Authorities have struggled to substantiate. Despite serious legal violations and inconsistencies, Mr Khader is likely to be convicted at his next trial hearing. The charges against him have been changed three times by the Prosecution, in clear violation of international law. Indeed, the IPU report on Mr Khader’s trial notes that:
“[The principal prosecution witness] was not arrested until several weeks after Mr. Khader. His statements implicating Mr. Khader, which form the basis of the charges against him, therefore did not yet exist at the time of Mr. Khader’s arrest”.
The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) have consistently expressed concerns about Mr Khader’s trial proceedings: an IPU Resolution in April 2005 expressed “deep concern that the prosecution case essentially rests on the statement of one person, who himself does not appear to be a credible witness”. The Report also outlines violations of the Fourth Geneva Convention (to which Israel is a party), the doctrine of the International Committee of the Red Cross, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ratified by Israel in 1991) and the United Nations Convention against Torture (ratified by Israel in 1991) in Mr Khader’s case.
In addition, the IPU report notes a number of periods during his detention when Mr Khader "disappeared" from the sight of his family and his lawyer, who were not informed of his whereabouts, in clear violation of international law. The report quotes Mr Khader describing the torture and inhuman treatment he suffered during his intensive interrogation and prolonged detention, and calls for these allegations “to be the subject of an impartial investigation”.
Throughout the trial, Mr Khader has stated that he believes the case against him is an attempt to silence him because of his political beliefs, his comments on corruption and the lack of transparency in the Palestinian Authority, and his staunch support for a just solution to the issue of Palestinian refugees and their right of return, as enshrined in UN Resolution 194. The report notes:
“[Mr. Khader] is known for his involvement in the issue of refugees’ rights … [Mr Khader] also explains that he was deeply involved in combating corruption within the Palestinian Authority, a factor to be of importance in the context of his trial since he suspects his arrest and the charges brought against him to be … in part due to a "settling of scores" within the [Palestinian] Authority”.
If sentenced, Mr Khader will be the 2nd elected Palestinian official to be sentenced. Marwan Barghouti was sentenced in 2004. His conviction met with world-wide criticism. The IPU's Legal Expert concluded in his report on that trial that “numerous breaches of international law recalled in this report make it impossible to conclude that Mr. Barghouti was given a fair trial”.
ISRAELI INTELLIGENCE OFFICIALS ADMIT FABRICATED EVIDENCE:
At Mr Khader’s trial hearing in June 2005, Israeli Intelligence Officers admitted that evidence, including audiotapes, purported to incriminate Khader, had been fabricated. In addition, when questioned by Khader’s lawyer, Riad Anes, an Israeli Intelligence Officer admitted that evidence from 2 prosecution witnesses had also been fabricated.
¨ Khader and his lawyer have throughout the trial been denied access to evidence classified as 'secret'. Additionally, Khader's lawyer, Mr Anes, has been denied the opportunity throughout the trial to cross-examine the single witness on whose testimony the case against Mr Khader is based.
IPU REPORT: “MILITARY COURTS DO NOT MEET REQUIREMENT OF IMPARTIALITY”:
¨ Hussam Khader has been tried in the Military Courts system in Israel where all judges are serving Israeli Army Officers. The Military Courts system has long been criticised internationally as lacking transparency and internationally-accepted legal procedures.
¨ The IPU report criticises the impartiality of the Military Courts: “The institution of military courts … is bound by a principle of objective impartiality with which it is unable to comply …If the occupation of the West Bank since 1967 provides the only justification for the maintenance of these jurisdictions, such justification cannot be more lawful than the occupation itself … [Their] continued existence, 38 years later, has transformed the nature of these provisional jurisdictions from a temporary instrument for the maintenance of order and security into an instrument of repression since its competence consists precisely in punishing Palestinians who resort to violence in order to oppose the occupation”.
¨ The IPU report concludes: “one is forced to conclude that the military courts instituted … in the occupied territories do not meet the requirement of impartiality under international law”.
SERIOUS CONCERNS ABOUT EVIDENCE SUBMITTED TO THE COURT:
¨ Mr Khader and his defence team continue to vigorously contest the evidence submitted by the Prosecution in the case. The IPU report outlines these 2 serious concerns:
(i) Access to the material assembled by the GSS in the course of the investigation: A number of items gathered by the investigation services were classified "secret" by the security forces, as a result of which Khader’s defence was denied access to them. The IPU Report notes that according to the Israeli Authorities:
“in connection with the "secret" classification, a check is carried out to ensure that no material so classified might be of use to the defence. A tangible example of the problems raised by this situation may be given: Mr. Khader had told his lawyer that, shortly after his arrest, the GSS investigators played to him a cassette in which two young men were admitting participation in planning attacks and stating that they had been in contact for that purpose with him”.
“[Khader’s lawyer] Mr. Anes has argued that that item – kept secret by the GSS – would finally be of use to the defence and convinced the court to ask for it to be communicated to the prosecution. The cassette was played to the court in camera in the presence of a member of the GSS whom Mr. Anis was able to cross-question at the hearing of 29 June. According to information gathered subsequently [by the IPU observer], the GSS agent acknowledged that the cassette had not been communicated to the court because a part of its content was false. He nevertheless refused to say which part of the cassette was genuine and which part false”.
“Mr. Khader’s defence would have liked to be able to examine the entire file constituted by the GSS and not make do with the assurance given by the authorities that none of its items would have been of use to the defence. The example of that cassette shows that such an examination must be made by the defence itself”.
(ii) The personality of the principal prosecution witness: as outlined above, this witness was only himself arrested after Mr Khader. The IPU report notes that
“when he testified for the prosecution before the Court, [the witness] stated that he had brought accusations against Mr Khader at the request of certain members of the Palestinian Authority wishing to settle scores with him … Mr Khader referred to this point again at the hearing of 4 September, where he explained that in 2000 he had been one of the co-authors of an open letter publicly denouncing corrupt practices within the Palestinian Authority. [Khader] further explained that several of the co-authors of the letter had suffered reprisal measures …”.
The report also notes that Mr Khader’s lawyer considered that it was not possible to give more credence to this witness’ statements than to those of the two other men (see point above) who had also tried to implicate Mr Khader, yet whose evidence the prosecution had given up the idea of utilizing.
THE FINAL CHARGES AGAINST MR. KHADER:
¨ Throughout the trial, the Prosecution had alleged, and sought to prove, that Mr Khader had provided funds to an individual for military purposes. This charge was never proved, and was dropped by the Prosecution at the trial hearing in September 2005.
¨ None of the final charges against Mr Khader mention any connection to military activities.
¨ The charges continue to be based on the testimony of a single state witness who claims he was tortured and confessed under duress. This witness’ confessions are, in this context, unsubstantiated and lack credibility given that he was forced to confess under pressure and that his statements in Court have been contradictory.
¨ The IPU Report outlines the final and modified charges against Mr Khader:
“At the hearing of 4 September 2005, the prosecution modified the charges a final time. Two initial charges were maintained but redefined … In these circumstances, and since he is no longer accused of personal responsibility for acts of violence, Mr. Khader decided to plead guilty … The modified charges now make Mr. Khader liable to no more than a 10-year prison term, instead of the life sentence on the previous charges”.
¨ Knesset members, Jamal Zahalka and Mohamed Baramke, who have attended the various trial hearings, have expressed serious concerns about the case and legal proceedings against Khader that have violated international law.
¨ According to Mr Khader’s lawyer, at the September trial hearing, the Prosecution removed several important charges against Khader. As Ha’aretz reported: “When [the] prosecutor faced difficulties proving some of the charges against Khader, a new indictment was filed against him”. Khader’s lawyer, Mr Anes,said his client had admitted to a number of minor accusations “because he wanted to reduce the duration of the sentence as this sentence became unavoidable due to the illegal practices of Israel’s military courts”.
The Popular Committee in Support of HUSSAM KHADER and Palestinian Prisoners demands Khader’s immediate release. Hussam Khader has not had a fair trial and the Committee demands that the fabricated and politically-motivated charges against him be dropped and that he be immediately freed
For further information on the CAMPAIGN IN SUPPORT OF HUSSAM KHADER & PALESTINIAN POLITICAL PRISONERS, see:
http://www.hussamkhader.org/english; info@hussamkhader.com
Tel/fax: +972 9 2338930; Mobile: +972 599 382930, +972 52 476593
Ghassan Khader
P.O.Box: 738 Nablus
Palestine
Telfax: +972 9 2338930
Mobile: +972 59 382930
A REPORT ON MR KHADER’S TRIAL, ISSUED BY THE INTER-PARLIAMENTARY UNION (October 2005), CONCLUDED THAT:
“MR KHADER HAS NOT, SINCE HIS ARREST 2½ YEARS AGO, HAD THE BENEFIT OF COMPLIANCE WITH THE INTERNATIONAL RULES OF FAIR TRIAL”
AND DESCRIBED ISRAEL’S MILITARY COURTS AS “AN INSTRUMENT OF REPRESSION”
IF SENTENCED, MR KHADER WILL BE THE 2ND PALESTINIAN PARLIAMENTARIAN CONVICTED BY ISRAELI COURTS IN TRIALS THAT THE INTER-PARLIAMENTARY UNION HAS CONCLUDED VIOLATE INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS THAT GUARANTEE A FAIR TRIAL – MARWAN BARGHOUTI WAS PREVIOUSLY CONVICTED IN 2004
48 PARLIAMENTARIANS FROM AROUND THE WORLD HAVE CALLED FOR HUSSAM KHADER’S IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Hussam Khader’s 2½ year trial by an Israeli Military Court has been based on fabricated charges that the Israeli Authorities have struggled to substantiate. Despite serious legal violations and inconsistencies, Mr Khader is likely to be convicted at his next trial hearing. The charges against him have been changed three times by the Prosecution, in clear violation of international law. Indeed, the IPU report on Mr Khader’s trial notes that:
“[The principal prosecution witness] was not arrested until several weeks after Mr. Khader. His statements implicating Mr. Khader, which form the basis of the charges against him, therefore did not yet exist at the time of Mr. Khader’s arrest”.
The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) have consistently expressed concerns about Mr Khader’s trial proceedings: an IPU Resolution in April 2005 expressed “deep concern that the prosecution case essentially rests on the statement of one person, who himself does not appear to be a credible witness”. The Report also outlines violations of the Fourth Geneva Convention (to which Israel is a party), the doctrine of the International Committee of the Red Cross, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ratified by Israel in 1991) and the United Nations Convention against Torture (ratified by Israel in 1991) in Mr Khader’s case.
In addition, the IPU report notes a number of periods during his detention when Mr Khader "disappeared" from the sight of his family and his lawyer, who were not informed of his whereabouts, in clear violation of international law. The report quotes Mr Khader describing the torture and inhuman treatment he suffered during his intensive interrogation and prolonged detention, and calls for these allegations “to be the subject of an impartial investigation”.
Throughout the trial, Mr Khader has stated that he believes the case against him is an attempt to silence him because of his political beliefs, his comments on corruption and the lack of transparency in the Palestinian Authority, and his staunch support for a just solution to the issue of Palestinian refugees and their right of return, as enshrined in UN Resolution 194. The report notes:
“[Mr. Khader] is known for his involvement in the issue of refugees’ rights … [Mr Khader] also explains that he was deeply involved in combating corruption within the Palestinian Authority, a factor to be of importance in the context of his trial since he suspects his arrest and the charges brought against him to be … in part due to a "settling of scores" within the [Palestinian] Authority”.
If sentenced, Mr Khader will be the 2nd elected Palestinian official to be sentenced. Marwan Barghouti was sentenced in 2004. His conviction met with world-wide criticism. The IPU's Legal Expert concluded in his report on that trial that “numerous breaches of international law recalled in this report make it impossible to conclude that Mr. Barghouti was given a fair trial”.
ISRAELI INTELLIGENCE OFFICIALS ADMIT FABRICATED EVIDENCE:
At Mr Khader’s trial hearing in June 2005, Israeli Intelligence Officers admitted that evidence, including audiotapes, purported to incriminate Khader, had been fabricated. In addition, when questioned by Khader’s lawyer, Riad Anes, an Israeli Intelligence Officer admitted that evidence from 2 prosecution witnesses had also been fabricated.
¨ Khader and his lawyer have throughout the trial been denied access to evidence classified as 'secret'. Additionally, Khader's lawyer, Mr Anes, has been denied the opportunity throughout the trial to cross-examine the single witness on whose testimony the case against Mr Khader is based.
IPU REPORT: “MILITARY COURTS DO NOT MEET REQUIREMENT OF IMPARTIALITY”:
¨ Hussam Khader has been tried in the Military Courts system in Israel where all judges are serving Israeli Army Officers. The Military Courts system has long been criticised internationally as lacking transparency and internationally-accepted legal procedures.
¨ The IPU report criticises the impartiality of the Military Courts: “The institution of military courts … is bound by a principle of objective impartiality with which it is unable to comply …If the occupation of the West Bank since 1967 provides the only justification for the maintenance of these jurisdictions, such justification cannot be more lawful than the occupation itself … [Their] continued existence, 38 years later, has transformed the nature of these provisional jurisdictions from a temporary instrument for the maintenance of order and security into an instrument of repression since its competence consists precisely in punishing Palestinians who resort to violence in order to oppose the occupation”.
¨ The IPU report concludes: “one is forced to conclude that the military courts instituted … in the occupied territories do not meet the requirement of impartiality under international law”.
SERIOUS CONCERNS ABOUT EVIDENCE SUBMITTED TO THE COURT:
¨ Mr Khader and his defence team continue to vigorously contest the evidence submitted by the Prosecution in the case. The IPU report outlines these 2 serious concerns:
(i) Access to the material assembled by the GSS in the course of the investigation: A number of items gathered by the investigation services were classified "secret" by the security forces, as a result of which Khader’s defence was denied access to them. The IPU Report notes that according to the Israeli Authorities:
“in connection with the "secret" classification, a check is carried out to ensure that no material so classified might be of use to the defence. A tangible example of the problems raised by this situation may be given: Mr. Khader had told his lawyer that, shortly after his arrest, the GSS investigators played to him a cassette in which two young men were admitting participation in planning attacks and stating that they had been in contact for that purpose with him”.
“[Khader’s lawyer] Mr. Anes has argued that that item – kept secret by the GSS – would finally be of use to the defence and convinced the court to ask for it to be communicated to the prosecution. The cassette was played to the court in camera in the presence of a member of the GSS whom Mr. Anis was able to cross-question at the hearing of 29 June. According to information gathered subsequently [by the IPU observer], the GSS agent acknowledged that the cassette had not been communicated to the court because a part of its content was false. He nevertheless refused to say which part of the cassette was genuine and which part false”.
“Mr. Khader’s defence would have liked to be able to examine the entire file constituted by the GSS and not make do with the assurance given by the authorities that none of its items would have been of use to the defence. The example of that cassette shows that such an examination must be made by the defence itself”.
(ii) The personality of the principal prosecution witness: as outlined above, this witness was only himself arrested after Mr Khader. The IPU report notes that
“when he testified for the prosecution before the Court, [the witness] stated that he had brought accusations against Mr Khader at the request of certain members of the Palestinian Authority wishing to settle scores with him … Mr Khader referred to this point again at the hearing of 4 September, where he explained that in 2000 he had been one of the co-authors of an open letter publicly denouncing corrupt practices within the Palestinian Authority. [Khader] further explained that several of the co-authors of the letter had suffered reprisal measures …”.
The report also notes that Mr Khader’s lawyer considered that it was not possible to give more credence to this witness’ statements than to those of the two other men (see point above) who had also tried to implicate Mr Khader, yet whose evidence the prosecution had given up the idea of utilizing.
THE FINAL CHARGES AGAINST MR. KHADER:
¨ Throughout the trial, the Prosecution had alleged, and sought to prove, that Mr Khader had provided funds to an individual for military purposes. This charge was never proved, and was dropped by the Prosecution at the trial hearing in September 2005.
¨ None of the final charges against Mr Khader mention any connection to military activities.
¨ The charges continue to be based on the testimony of a single state witness who claims he was tortured and confessed under duress. This witness’ confessions are, in this context, unsubstantiated and lack credibility given that he was forced to confess under pressure and that his statements in Court have been contradictory.
¨ The IPU Report outlines the final and modified charges against Mr Khader:
“At the hearing of 4 September 2005, the prosecution modified the charges a final time. Two initial charges were maintained but redefined … In these circumstances, and since he is no longer accused of personal responsibility for acts of violence, Mr. Khader decided to plead guilty … The modified charges now make Mr. Khader liable to no more than a 10-year prison term, instead of the life sentence on the previous charges”.
¨ Knesset members, Jamal Zahalka and Mohamed Baramke, who have attended the various trial hearings, have expressed serious concerns about the case and legal proceedings against Khader that have violated international law.
¨ According to Mr Khader’s lawyer, at the September trial hearing, the Prosecution removed several important charges against Khader. As Ha’aretz reported: “When [the] prosecutor faced difficulties proving some of the charges against Khader, a new indictment was filed against him”. Khader’s lawyer, Mr Anes,said his client had admitted to a number of minor accusations “because he wanted to reduce the duration of the sentence as this sentence became unavoidable due to the illegal practices of Israel’s military courts”.
The Popular Committee in Support of HUSSAM KHADER and Palestinian Prisoners demands Khader’s immediate release. Hussam Khader has not had a fair trial and the Committee demands that the fabricated and politically-motivated charges against him be dropped and that he be immediately freed
For further information on the CAMPAIGN IN SUPPORT OF HUSSAM KHADER & PALESTINIAN POLITICAL PRISONERS, see:
http://www.hussamkhader.org/english; info@hussamkhader.com
Tel/fax: +972 9 2338930; Mobile: +972 599 382930, +972 52 476593
Ghassan Khader
P.O.Box: 738 Nablus
Palestine
Telfax: +972 9 2338930
Mobile: +972 59 382930
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