Our colleague Dr. Imad Barghouthi, Professor of Physics at Al-Quds University, who was scheduled to be released on bail within 48 hours, by an order of an Israeli military commander in the West Bank will remain under administrative detention until November 15th.
Prof. Barghouthi was first arrested on July 16th at an Israeli check-point, then held without charges for over two weeks and then finally charged in relation to his Facebook activity. After thousands of scholars worldwide demanded Prof. Barghouthi to be freed from prison, his lawyer successfully argued for his release on bail which on September 2nd was granted by the judge on his case. But just when our hopes rose that Prof. Barghouthi could be freed, reunited with his family and restart his activity as a researcher and mentor of his many students, an Israeli military order was used to override the decision of the judge, indefinitely continuing the unlawful imprisonment of Prof. Barghouthi.
Administrative detention, a procedure employed by Israeli authorities to jail indefinitely without trial and without charges and used routinely against Palestinian, has been condemned by the UN (see for example paragraph 80 of document A/HRC/28/80/Add.1) and is in direct violation of article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
As concerned scientists, we condemn the arbitrary and unlawful administrative detention of professor Imad Barghouthi. This violation of international law and basic human rights is an attack on Prof. Barghouthi and his family, as well as his students and the scientific community everywhere in the world. We therefore demand that the judge rejects the military order and releases Prof. Imad immediately.