People's Democracy

CAIRO witnessed an international conference on August 6 and 7, in cooperation with the Arab Lawyers Union, for ensuring that Israel complies with the provisions of international law and humanitarian laws, particularly in respect of Palestinian detenues. The conference was attended by 22 eminent jurists from different parts of the world, along with representatives of 17 bar associations from Arab countries.

The conference on International Campaign of Lawyers for Defence of Palestinian Prisoners in Israel was decided by the International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL) at its Bureau meeting in London, May 12-13. IADL vice president and Arab Lawyers Union secretary general Farook Abu Eissa played an important role in executing the decision.

The Indian delegation consisted of Jitendra Sharma (IADL president and a senior advocate at Supreme Court), Justice R P Sethi (recently retired from Supreme Court), Naranarayanan Gooptu (former advocate general of West Bengal and vice-president of the All India Lawyers Union, an IADL affiliate) and R K Jain (president, Supreme Court Bar Association).

The conference took note of the fact that between February 27 and May 20 this year, the Israeli defence force detained thousands of Palestinians, in tandem with its offensive in the West Bank, known as "Operation Defensive Shield," now called "Operation Determined Path." The conference unanimously opined that conditions of detentions were cruel, inhuman and degrading. Over 7,000 were detained for days without charge and denied access to a law court, lawyer and families. Reports of Israeli soldiers beating and abusing the prisoners are common. The conditions in Israeli detention centres are far below the accepted international norms for prisons.

At the first working session of the conference, Gooptu from India stressed the point that war detenues or prisoners of war (POWs) have a right to be respected. Hence the torture and inhuman acts perpetrated by Israeli aggressors against the abducted Palestinians are a gross violation of international law and Geneva conventions. These wrongful acts constitute not only a war crime but also a Crime Against Humanity And Peace, which was declared to be a part of international law at the Nuremburg and Tokyo trials of Nazi war criminals after the second world war.

The Israeli acts of inflicting ‘collective’ penalty for an act committed by an individual is contrary to the provisions contained in article 33 of the fourth Geneva convention. The conference also noted that under article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Israel is a ratifying party, the West Bank and Gaza populations are entitled to be protected from arbitrary arrest of detention. Also, a detained individual has a right to be promptly informed of the reasons of his arrest and expeditiously put up for trial before the appropriate judicial authority.

The meet demanded that the Israel government comply with its obligations under international law to either charge or release the detenues and to provide due process of law to the persons charged, by allowing them access to lawyers and a speedy trial in an appropriate civil court. It decided to send an international group of lawyers to Israel to meet the government’s representatives and some of the detenues and their lawyers. This group of lawyers will also assist those unlawfully detained to seek just compensation, in accordance with the provisions of article 9.

The conference further resolved to initiate a project to mobilise lawyers from all the IADL affiliates throughout the world, to come to Israel to provide concrete assistance to the lawyers, who will be defending the detenues, in ensuring that they have a fair trial.

The conference urged lawyers from all over the world to extend cooperation in this cause to uphold the basic human rights of Palestinian detenues.

The 22 eminent jurists, lawyers and other delegates from different countries also met the Arab League secretary general Amr Mousa at its headquarters in Cairo. They also called upon the Egyptian Bar Association president Samesh Ashour to exchange views on Palestine and other issues of international relations.