Amnesty International has responded to the Israeli government’s decision to imprison Palestinian-French NGO worker Salah Hamouri under the widely-condemned policy of administrative detention, which allows for internment without charge or trial.

The human rights organization posted a statement on its website, quoting Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa, Magdalena Mughrabi, as saying, “The arbitrary detention of Salah Hamouri is yet another shameful example of the Israeli authorities’ abusive use of administrative detention to detain suspects indefinitely without charge or trial.”

On August 23, Israeli forces detained Hamouri, a field researcher for prisoners’ rights group Addameer. Hamouri, who was previously imprisoned by Israel but released in a prisoner exchange deal in 2011, was then issued a six-month administrative detention order.

However, an Israeli court later ordered Hamouri to serve the remainder of his prison sentence, approximately three months. The prosecution then appealed this sentence, and his six-month administrative detention order was reinstated.

“Rather than locking him up without presenting a shred of evidence against him, the Israeli authorities must either charge him with a genuine criminal offence or order his immediate release,” Mughrabi said.

“For 50 years, Israel has relied upon administrative detention to suppress peaceful dissent and as a substitute for proper criminal prosecution. Now they appear to be using it to target human rights activists. They must take urgent steps to end this cruel practice once and for all”, she said.

Hamouri is the second Addameer staff member who is held under administrative detention. The group’s Media Coordinator Hasan Safadi has been held under administrative detention since June 2016. Khalida Jarrar, a long-serving PLC member representing the left-wing PFLP, is also a member of Addameer’s board, and has been held in administrative detention since July 02.