Hostage Holding - Illegal and Immoral
12 نيسان/أبريل 2000
Israeli Human Rights Organizations - B'Tselem, The Association for Civil Rights in Israel, HaMoked: Center for the Defense of the Individual and Physicians for Human Rights - welcome the High Court's Decision to release the eight Lebanese citizens who appealed against their detention as hostages. These eight are among a group of fifteen Lebanese citizens who have been held in administrative detention for many years in Israel.
In their decision, the High Court judges ruled that the Emergency Powers (Detentions) Law, which until now served as a legal basis for the State to hold Lebanese hostages, does not, in fact, authorize holding people in detention as hostages.
Human rights organizations demand that the Minister of Security and Prime Minister, Ehud Barak, immediately release all the Lebanese citizens being held in Israel.
Human Rights organizations recognize the duty of the State to target all of its efforts towards the release and return of missing Israeli soldiers. Yet, the use of illegal measures, including kidnapping innocent individuals and holding them as "bargaining chips", cannot be part of these efforts.