Asylum seekers left in jail because of broken fax machine

I. and B. might not be detained at the Givon detention center in Ramle but for a broken fax machine. I. has been there for five months, and B. for about six weeks. They could possibly have been released before the Passover holiday earlier this month, if the petitions faxed by their lawyer had reached their destination. For about a month, though the fax machine in the remand court at the detention facility was out of order and the problem was left unreported. The broken machine prevented the clarification of the cases of these two detainees, which may have led to their release.

B., 45, was born in Ivory Coast and came to Israel as a migrant worker after many of her relatives were killed in the civil war in her country. She entered Israel legally and even though she is in the process of obtaining refugee status here, has been imprisoned since March 4.

During the past six weeks, the Court for Administrative Matters in Tel Aviv has been hearing a petition on the legality of detaining asylum seekers in Israel, who are protected by the United Nations. On April 6 B.'s lawyer, Zeri Hazan, petitioned the court to release his client until the court's decision in her asylum request, but he received no response.

I., 29, was born in Guinea and came to Israel via Egypt following the riots that erupted in his country three years ago. I.'s passport was confiscated in Egypt but his brother managed to escape to the United States, where he was recognized as a refugee. I. similarly applied to the UN Commission for Refugees in Israel to arrange his status, but was denied. He was arrested on December 11, 2008, and has been detained ever since. On March 26 Hazan sent a petition to the court to release Ibrahim immediately and allow him to arrange his status. Hazan also sent the court a copy of I.'s brother's American refugee certificate - a document that could have tipped the scales in the decision on bail, but the documents never reached the judge.

"Blocking the right to access the court is a serious violation of the basic rights of those being detained," Hazan said. "We will employ all the legal means at our disposal and will sue the state for the time spent in undue imprisonment. I am astounded at the remand court's officials, who have not been receiving petitions from lawyers for a month, and have still not done anything to fix a simple technical problem that could have prevented many undue detentions."

"Unfortunately there was indeed a problem concerning faxes at the remand court in the Givon facility," said a Justice Ministry spokesman, responding on behalf of the remand court. "Still, the court could have been contacted by telephone, and people who phoned were told they could file documents in person or via an alternative fax number for urgent cases. We would like to stress that as soon as the Justice Ministry learned of the problem, the administration fixed the problem as soon as possible."