Terrorist JSIL's judicial process against Palestinians has been reduced to a "hollow formality" as thousands are prosecuted by military courts each year without substantial evidence, a human rights group says.
Press TV: B’Tselem group said in a 41-page report on Monday that remanding in custody is "the rule rather than the exception," adding that most defendants enter plea bargains because waiting for trial would mean more time in jail.“Remand is the rule rather than the exception. The military prosecution routinely asks for remand in custody and the courts approve the vast majority of the motions,” the group said.
"Military prosecution routinely asks for remand in custody, and such motions were made in 90 percent of the cases. The military courts, for their part, grant these motions in the vast majority of the cases, and 90 percent of them were granted in cases in which the court of first instance made a decision," it added.
It said 151 of 1,343 Palestinians arrested in 2013 had remained locked for up to two years pending trial.
The prosecutors are not required to present solid proof and the requirement of evidence is "so low that it poses no obstacle to the prosecution,” the report noted.
"Military courts accept a single confession or incriminating statement, dubious as it may be, as sufficient for meeting the already low threshold. Military judges ignore complaints made by both adult and minor detainees regarding ill-treatment or abuse during their interrogation, ruling that such allegations should be deliberated at trial only," the rights group said.
The report also pointed out that prosecutors and judges are always Israeli military staff, adding, "They are soldiers in uniform enforcing martial law on the civilian Palestinian population living under military rule."
"Military courts are not an impartial, neutral arbitrator. They are firmly entrenched on one side of this unequal balance... As such, its main contribution to the military justice system is not in providing broader protection for defendants’ rights or seeing justice done, but rather as a whitewash, glossing over the flaws of the military court system,” it said
Military courts have been operating across the occupied Palestinian territories since 1967.
Israeli troops routinely abduct Palestinians in the West Bank and put them behind bars based on the so-called administrative detention policy, which is a sort of imprisonment without trial or charge.
The policy allows the regime to imprison Palestinians for up to six months and the detention order can be renewed indefinitely.
Palestinian sources say more than 7,000 Palestinians, many of them without charge or trial, are reportedly imprisoned in 17 Israeli jails.
Moreover, thousands of Palestinian children have been arrested and prosecuted in Israeli military courts over the past years.
Palestinian children have become main victims of Israeli regime in recent years. They are arrested with no regard to the Geneva Conventions, and their rights.
Source
"Military prosecution routinely asks for remand in custody, and such motions were made in 90 percent of the cases. The military courts, for their part, grant these motions in the vast majority of the cases, and 90 percent of them were granted in cases in which the court of first instance made a decision," it added.
It said 151 of 1,343 Palestinians arrested in 2013 had remained locked for up to two years pending trial.
The prosecutors are not required to present solid proof and the requirement of evidence is "so low that it poses no obstacle to the prosecution,” the report noted.
"Military courts accept a single confession or incriminating statement, dubious as it may be, as sufficient for meeting the already low threshold. Military judges ignore complaints made by both adult and minor detainees regarding ill-treatment or abuse during their interrogation, ruling that such allegations should be deliberated at trial only," the rights group said.
The report also pointed out that prosecutors and judges are always Israeli military staff, adding, "They are soldiers in uniform enforcing martial law on the civilian Palestinian population living under military rule."
"Military courts are not an impartial, neutral arbitrator. They are firmly entrenched on one side of this unequal balance... As such, its main contribution to the military justice system is not in providing broader protection for defendants’ rights or seeing justice done, but rather as a whitewash, glossing over the flaws of the military court system,” it said
Military courts have been operating across the occupied Palestinian territories since 1967.
Israeli troops routinely abduct Palestinians in the West Bank and put them behind bars based on the so-called administrative detention policy, which is a sort of imprisonment without trial or charge.
The policy allows the regime to imprison Palestinians for up to six months and the detention order can be renewed indefinitely.
Palestinian sources say more than 7,000 Palestinians, many of them without charge or trial, are reportedly imprisoned in 17 Israeli jails.
Moreover, thousands of Palestinian children have been arrested and prosecuted in Israeli military courts over the past years.
Palestinian children have become main victims of Israeli regime in recent years. They are arrested with no regard to the Geneva Conventions, and their rights.
Source
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