Last update - 00:00 17/09/2006
Court extends remand of 11 Hamas officials jailed in Israel
By Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondent
The Israel Defense Forces court at Salem on Sunday extended by four days the remand of 11 Hamas legislators detained by Israel.
The court at Ofer is scheduled to hold a hearing Monday on a possible extension of the administrative detention of 21 Hamas legislators and ministers, following an appeal by the military prosecutor.
The court last week rejected the arguments of the detainees' lawyers, who said they enjoyed diplomatic immunity and that the arrests contravened the Geneva Convention. This after the deputy president of the IDF court, Judge Ronen Atzmon, had ordered the release of the 21 last Tuesday, and voiced rare criticism of their detention.
In his decision to free the politicians, Atzmon questioned the timing of the arrests, noting that the men were permitted to run for office and serve in the Palestinian government for months before their detentions.
"There is evidence upon which the charges are apparently based," he said, but added that the officials should be released until their trial begins. Only then would it be possible to request their detention until the end of legal proceedings, he said.
The 21 were arrested in the wake of the abduction of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit by Palestinian militants on June 25.