Summer Postcard Action 2006
Israel and Occupied Territories – Ziyad Hmeidan
© Private
Ziyad Muhammad Shehadeh Hmeidan, a human rights activist and father of two young children, has been detained without charge by the Israeli government since May 23, 2005. Ziyad Hmeidan was a fieldworker for Al-Haq, a Palestinian human rights organization, when Israeli soldiers detained him on May 23, 2005 at the Qalandiya checkpoint outside of Ramallah. The soldiers refused to tell him or two other Al-Haq staff members with him why they were detaining him. Authorities prevented Ziyad from having contact with his lawyer for a week after he was detained.
In June 2005, Ziyad was given a six-month administrative detention order, which was renewed in November. Reduced to a four-month detention order, it was, however, renewed again in March 2006. Ziyad is held at the Ketziot Military Camp in the Naqab Desert, a prison which had previously been closed following substantial international pressure due to its poor conditions.
Although he has been detained for more than a year, Ziyad Hmeidan has not been formally charged with any offense. Authorities have claimed that he poses a threat to security, but they have refused to allow either Ziyad or his lawyer to see any evidence the government may have against him. A fieldworker for Al-Haq since 2000, Ziyad has also been pursuing a Master’s degree in sociology at Birzeit University.
The U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has stated that administrative detention as used in Israel constitutes arbitrary detention. Amnesty International has called upon the Israeli government to release immediately and unconditionally all administrative detainees held on account of their non-violent political activities or beliefs.
Please send cards of support to:
Ziyad Muhammad Shehadeh Hmeidan
(ID # 999602097)
Ketziot Military Camp
Doar Tzvai
01527
ISRAEL