Farwana: Israel banished 79 captives from West Bank since 2000

[ 19/01/2010 - 10:38 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- Israel has banished 79 Palestinian prisoners from the West Bank ever since the eruption of the Aqsa intifada back in 2000, Palestinian expert in prisoners' affairs Abdul Nasser Farwana said. Farwana, in a press statement on Monday, said that the prisoners were deported to Gaza Strip, Jordan and European countries. He said that the agreement on exiling 39 citizens who had taken refuge at the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem in May 2002 after 40 days of siege was a "serious precedent and a painful start of a new stage that witnessed numerous deportation orders against prisoners". The prisoners' expert warned of sanctioning the phenomenon and of banishing tens of prisoners in the currently negotiated prisoners exchange deal. He underlined that the deportation whether voluntarily or due to agreement between two parties does not gain legitimacy and is considered illegal in the international law. Farwana's statement follows the Israeli occupation authority's (IOA) threats to banish 14 Palestinian prisoners after their sentences were served. The IOA is refusing to release them and is seeking approval of other countries to receive them and until then it retains them in administrative custody.