The Israeli occupation authorities decided last night to postpone a decision to deport Palestinian-French human rights defender and administrative detainee, Salah Hammouri, 37, to France for “administrative reasons”, after it was scheduled for Sunday, according to Hammouri’s lawyer and family.
Last Wednesday, the occupation authorities informed Hammouri of its decision to deport him to France on December 4 after revoking his Jerusalem residency.
Hammouri’s mother, Doniz, told a press conference held in occupied Jerusalem that she does not have much hope his deportation will be canceled. “I really don’t know what can be done, or if Salah can refuse to board the plane, or the airlines will not allow him on board their planes,” she said, calling on French President Emmanuel Macron to put pressure on Israel to release her son, currently held in administrative detention without charge or trial, and allow him to continue to live in Jerusalem where he was born and lived all his life.
She said that her son was supposed to be released yesterday, Friday, after completing his three-month administrative detention period, but instead of releasing him, the Israeli occupation authorities transferred him to another prison pending a trial on Tuesday.
Hammouri’s lawyer, Lea Tsemel, said the decision to delay his deportation was for administrative reasons and that his case will be reviewed next week, adding that Hammouri was informed of the decision after he refused to appear before the military.
She said that a new court hearing will be held on Tuesday.
France expressed its “dissatisfaction with Israel’s decision to deport Hammouri, who was arrested without charge,” stressing that “he should be able to live a normal life in Jerusalem.”
Hammouri’s administrative detention was renewed on September 5 for a period of three months. He was detained after the Israeli occupation forces stormed his home in Kufr Aqab neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem on March 7 and was slammed with administrative detention for two consecutive terms.
Hammouri is a lawyer and human rights activist. He spent more than nine years in Israeli occupation prisons as a result of over six arrests with the longest stretch he spent in Israeli detention being seven continuous years between 2005 and 2011 after he was forced to choose between being deported to France for 15 years or imprisoned for seven.
In October 2021, Israel issued a decision to revoke his Jerusalem residency for charges of not showing loyalty to the State of Israel, which was based on ‘secret evidence.’ His French wife and two children currently reside in France because the occupation authorities have prevented them from returning to live in Jerusalem, thus depriving the family of living together in the father’s homeland.
M.K.
Source: Palestine News and Information Agency