The Governing Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Union,

Referring to the case of Mr. Ahmad Sa'adat, elected in January 2006 to the Palestinian Legislative Council, as outlined in the report of the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians (CL/181/11(a)-R.1), and to the resolution adopted at its 180th session (May 2007),

Referring to the expert report of Mr. Simon Foreman (CL/177/11(a)-R.2) on the trial of Mr. Marwan Barghouti, which contains a detailed chapter on the legality of the transfer of Palestinian citizens to Israeli territory,

Recalling the following evidence on file as provided by the sources:

• Mr. Sa'adat, General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), was arrested on 15 January 2002 by the Palestinian General Intelligence Service and later transferred to President Arafat's compound in connection with the killing of Mr. Rehavam Zeevi, the Israeli Minister of Tourism, on 17 October 2001, for which the PFLP had claimed responsibility. However, he was not formally charged. On 29 March 2002, the Israeli Defence Forces attacked the compound and placed it under siege for one month to obtain the delivery of Mr. Sa'adat and five others accused of Mr. Zeevi's killing. The siege was lifted on 1 May 2002 in a deal (the Ramallah Agreement) whereby the six Palestinians detained in the compound were taken to a Jericho prison, where they remained in detention, the prison being monitored by United Kingdom and United States observers.

• Acting upon a petition for Mr. Sa'adat's release, the Palestinian High Court of Justice requested the Palestinian General Intelligence Service to bring evidence against him, and ordered his release as the Service failed to do so. On 4 June 2002, however, the Palestinian Cabinet decided that he should not be released owing to Israeli threats to assassinate him.

• Between December 2005 and March 2006, the British authorities repeatedly told the Palestinian Authority that the situation in which the independent monitors were working in the Jericho jail failed to respect the Ramallah Agreement and that they would be withdrawn if the situation was not remedied. Early in the morning of 14 March 2006, they were indeed withdrawn. According to the source, Israeli Defence Forces arrived at the jail 20 minutes later and proceeded to abduct Mr. Sa'adat and other inmates. Mr. Sa'adat was transferred to an Israeli jail.

• In late April 2006, the Israeli authorities dropped the charge against Mr. Sa'adat of involvement in Mr. Zeevi's murder after the Attorney General decided that there was insufficient evidence to try him for the murder; however, 19 other charges of security-related offences have been brought against Mr. Sa'adat, who will reportedly be tried in a West Bank military court; to date, this has reportedly not been the case and indeed no charges are said to be currently pending against Mr. Sa'adat,

  Noting that in July 2007 the Government of Israel released 255 Palestinian prisoners "who have no blood on their hands"; that Mr. Sa'adat was nevertheless not released,

  1. Deeply regrets that Mr. Sa'adat, who according to the information made available to it is at present not even charged with any offence, was not among those who were released;

  2. Deplores the failure of the Israeli parliamentary authorities to respond to its requests for information on Mr. Sa'adat's situation and their lack of cooperation; can only interpret this as disregard for the serious human rights concerns it has expressed in this case;  

  3. Reaffirms its strong belief that Mr. Sa'adat's abduction and transfer to Israel was not related to the murder charge, but rather to Mr. Sa'adat's political activities as PFLP General Secretary, since he was abducted and detained by the Israeli authorities on a murder charge that was dropped, soon after his transfer, for lack of evidence; emphasizes in this respect that Mr. Sa'adat has been sought by the Israeli authorities ever since Mr. Zeevi's murder in January 2002, and that consequently they have had more than four years to prepare the case and gather all the necessary evidence;

  4. Affirms that Mr. Sa'adat's abduction from a Palestinian prison and his transfer to Israeli territory was moreover in breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Oslo Accords and that he should therefore be transferred to Palestinian territory forthwith;

  5. Remains alarmed that he may be detained in the absence of any charges, and notes that the Israeli authorities have not refuted these allegations; affirms that such a situation would constitute a clear violation of Mr. Sa'adat's right to liberty, which the Israeli authorities, as a State Party to the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCRP), are bound to respect, and that under Article 9, paragraph 5, any person arbitrarily detained has an enforceable right to compensation;

  6. Urges the Israeli authorities either to release Mr. Sa'adat forthwith or to charge him immediately with a recognizable criminal offence and try him without delay before an independent tribunal fully in compliance with the fair trial guarantees which Israel, as a State Party to the ICCPR, is bound to respect;

     Reiterates its wish to ascertain Mr. Sa'adat's conditions of detention, in particular the access he has to his lawyer, family and friends, and to medical treatment;

  7. Reiterates its wish for the Committee to be permitted to pay Mr. Sa'adat a private visit;

  8. Requests the Secretary General to inform the Israeli authorities accordingly, inviting them once again to provide the requested information;

  9. Requests the Committee to continue examining this case and report to it at its next session, to be held on the occasion of the 118th Assembly of the IPU (Cape Town, April 2008).

  Note: you can download a complete electronic version of the brochure "Results of the 117th IPU Assembly and related meetings" in PDF format (file size 480K approximately). This version requires Adobe Acrobat Reader, which you can download free of charge.

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