On Monday morning (Feb 8, 2021), a prosecutor in an Israeli military court requested the maximum time possible for the sentence for UN Palestinian Human Rights Defender, Issa Amro, in connection with 6 peaceful protest and civil disobedience convictions.
The military judge informed Amro’s lawyer that the decision on the sentencing will be sent in a few weeks. Representatives from the EU, Germany, Ireland, Canada, Netherlands, Norway and the UK consulates attended the hearing. Amro’s Israeli lawyer Gaby Lasky plans to appeal the conviction.
The defense had brought four witnesses to testify to Amro’s character; including Hagit Ofran from ‘Peace Now’, ex-Knesset member, Avrum Burg, Professor Hillel Cohen, and Yehuda Shaul of ‘Breaking the Silence’.
“The judge refused to allow the witnesses any opportunity to speak about the context or background that led me to take up my role as a human rights defender, despite this being the very thing that informs my activism and why as human right defenders, we have no choice but to resort to civil disobedience until we win our right to freedom, justice, equality and a life of dignity.” Issa Amro stated, adding: “The occupation is afraid of nonviolent resistance. The military ‘court’ is part of the military system and exists to prolong the occupation.”
The European Union Representative in coordination with EU Heads of Mission called on Israel and the Palestinian authorities to drop the charges while Independent UN experts stated that Israel’s conviction of Amro showed “disdain for international obligations.” Amnesty International has repeatedly called for Israel to drop the “baseless” and “politically motivated” charges against Amro.
On January 6, the military judge convicted Amro on six out of 18 charges related to Amro’s community organising. These included three counts of “participating in a rally without a permit” and two counts of “obstructing a soldier”, related to Amro’s participation in the peaceful “Open Shuhada Street” demonstration in 2016; Amro’s participation in the nonviolent “I Have a Dream” demonstration from 2013, in which participants wore masks of Obama and Martin Luther King; and a nonviolent sit-in protest in 2012 calling to re-open the old Hebron municipality building. Amro was also convicted of one count of “assault” for “pushing” an Israeli settler, related to a previously-closed case from 2010 when Amro was a volunteer with the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem. Amro claims to be the one who was assaulted by the settler in question.
In 2017, thirty-five U.S. House Representatives and four Senators, including Bernie Sanders, sent letters highlighting that some charges were not internationally recognizable offenses.
Issa Amro is the co-founder and former coordinator of the Hebron-based ‘Youth Against Settlements’ initiative. In 2010, he was declared “Human Rights Defender of the year in Palestine” by the UN OHCHR and he is formally recognized by the European Union. Amro won the ‘One World’ Media Award in 2009 for his involvement in B’tselem’s camera distribution project. He was a guest of the U.S. State Department in 2011.
Issa’s team would like to thank every person that took part in the twitterstorm Sunday 7th Feb 21 which trended with around 20,000 tweets.
This is only the beginning of the fight for scrutiny on this case, which not only concerns Issa but every activist peacefully protesting for justice.
To follow Issa’s twitter thread:
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