Jenin/PNN - A former Palestinian minister has had his administrative detention extended for the seventh time, just hours before his expected release.
Prisoner’s rights groups have condemned the decision by Israeli security not to release Wasfi Izzat Qabha, the former Minister of State, who has spent the past 27 months in detention without trial.
His wife, Umm Osama, has expressed grief at the extension of her husband’s detention, describing how their seven children had been excitedly awaiting the return of their father. “Once again, the occupation has denied them their joy."
Qabha has previously been arrested five times and spent over seven years in different occupation prisons, including five years imprisonment during the second intifada.
Fouad Khafash, a representative of Ahrar Centre for Prisoners and Human Rights, referred to administrative detention as a criminal policy aimed at undermining the resolve of the detainee and his family. He added that as all decisions were subject to the whim of intelligence officers, many prisoners like Qabha were being misused and manipulated.
Qabha’s detention will be reviewed again in four months.
