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 Geneva, 20 July 2012IPU Logo-bottom

IPU WELCOMES RELEASE OF SPEAKER OF PALESTINIAN LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) has greatly welcomed the release of the speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) Aziz Dweik by Israel yesterday (19/7) after six months in administrative detention.

Until recently, Dweik had been one of 23 Palestinian legislators – close to 20 per cent of the PLC’s total membership – being held under such terms. IPU’s Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians has been working for the release of Dweik and the other PLC members being held in administrative detention.

The cases of those MPs who continue to remain in such detention are being examined, amongst others, by the IPU Committee, currently gathered for a four-day meeting at the IPU headquarters in Geneva.

Many of the MPs have been in jail for more than a year. There are also concerns over the health of some.

The detention of so many Palestinian MPs has also paralysed the functioning of the PLC, legitimately elected by the Palestinian electorate.

Established in 1889 and with its Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the IPU, the oldest multilateral political organisation, currently brings together 162 affiliated parliaments and ten regional assemblies as associate members. The world organisation of parliaments has an Office in New York, which acts as its Permanent Observer at the United Nations.
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Contacts
For further information, please contact: Ms. Jemini Pandya
Tel.: + 41 22 919 4158 / +41 79 217 3374
E-mail: jep@mail.ipu.org