Israel sentences Palestinian former deputy PM to six months in prison

Date: 23 / 04 / 2009 Time: 21:47

Nasser Ash-Sha'er speaks at a press conference in 2006 [Ma'anImages]

Nablus – Ma’an – Palestinian former deputy foreign minister Nasser As-Sha’er has remanded to six more months in administrative detention by an Israeli military court, his attorney said on Thursday.

Attorney Fares Abu Hassan said Ash-Sha’er’s would petition to overturn decision, which was issued by a court in the settlement of Ofer.

The Israeli army seized Ash-Sha’er and nine other senior Hamas leaders, including several members of parliament, in an overnight sweep in on 19 March. Israel reportedly carried out the raids in an attempt to pressure Hamas to speed negotiations toward a prisoner swap.

Administrative detention is an Israeli policy under which so-called “security prisoners” can be held nearly indefinitely without charge or trial.

More than 40 members of the Palestinian parliament, the Legislative Council (PLC) are held in Israeli prisons. Many of those were arrested since Palestinian fighters from Gaza captured an Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, in 2006.