The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) welcomes the recent release by the Israeli authorities of a group of Palestinian prisoners, among them Mr. Hussam Khader, a former member of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), who was imprisoned in 2003.
"Mr. Kadher is one of the most high profile cases that the IPU Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians has been dealing with - said the Committee’s President, Canadian Senator Sharon Carstairs - and our world organization of parliaments is happy that he has finally been released".
Mr. Khader was arrested in March 2003. He was convicted and sentenced in 2005 on the basis of a plea bargain regarding both the conviction and the sentencing and was serving a seven-year prison sentence. The IPU has consistently held the view that Mr. Khader did not enjoy a fair trial, without which his guilt could not be fairly established either.
The IPU helps legislators to represent their constituents freely, safely and effectively. In 1976, it established the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians, which has since examined cases in over 100 countries and in many instances helped to provide those at risk with protection or redress. This has taken a variety of forms, such as the release of a detained parliamentarian, reinstatement to a previously relinquished parliamentary seat, the payment of compensation for abuses suffered and the investigation of such abuses and effective legal action against their perpetrators.
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