Human rights defender Issa Amro detained after documenting violent attack by Israeli soldiers
On the evening of 28 November 2022, Israeli forces arrested human rights defender Issa Amro after he was summoned for an investigation at the Ja'bara Israeli police station. The arrest of the human rights defender happened days after he documented and published a video of Israeli soldiers violently attacking an Israeli activist during a solidarity visit.
Issa Amro is a prominent human rights defender and founding member of several human rights organisations in Hebron who work peacefully against Israeli occupation of the West Bank. Issa Amro is founder and former coordinator of Youth Against Settlements (YAS), a group of human rights defenders that strengthens the local community’s steadfastness against the expansion of illegal settlements and documents human right violations. For local and international media, YAS is often the first source of information from the ground.
On the evening of 28 November 2022, Israeli forces arrested human rights defender Issa Amro after he was summoned for an investigation at the Ja'bara Israeli police station. The arrest of the human rights defender happened days after he documented and published a video of Israeli soldiers violently attacking an Israeli activist during a solidarity visit.
Issa Amro is a prominent human rights defender and founding member of several human rights organisations in Hebron who work peacefully against Israeli occupation of the West Bank. Issa Amro is founder and former coordinator of Youth Against Settlements (YAS), a group of human rights defenders that strengthens the local community’s steadfastness against the expansion of illegal settlements and documents human right violations. For local and international media, YAS is often the first source of information from the ground.
On 28 November 2022, Israeli forces arrested human rights defender Issa Amro after he was summoned for an investigation at the Israeli police station Ja'bara, near Kiryat Arba settlement in Hebron, occupied Palestinian territory. Later in the same evening, the Israeli police notified Issa Amro's family that he will remain in detention until appearing before the Ofer Military Court, near Ramallah. His appearance before the military court is scheduled on Wednesday, 30 November 2022.
The arrest of human rights defender Issa Amro happened days after he documented and posted, on Friday 25 November 2022, a video on social media of Israeli soldiers violently attacking an Israeli activist in Hebron. The activist, along with other Israeli activists, was on a solidarity visit to Hebron and he was undertaking a tour of the old city.
Recently, on 31 October 2022, the Israeli military enforced a “closed military zone” order around the house of human rights defender Issa Amro in Tel Rumeida neighbourhood, in Hebron, Occupied Palestinian Territory. Issa Amro's house also serves as the community centre of the Palestinian human rights group “Youth Against Settlements”. The order was enforced a day after Issa Amro’s attempt to file a complaint at the local Israeli police station, on 30 October 2022, on the harassment against him and his colleagues by Israeli settlers and soldiers during the local olive harvest.
The human rights defender’s house has been subjected to frequent searches by the Israeli Military. Issa Amro and his colleagues have reported facing death threats and being physically assaulted by Israeli soldiers and settlers several times during this month.
Front Line Defenders condemns the arrest and detention of human rights defender Issa Amro and is deeply concerned about the escalating harassment of human rights defenders and activists in Hebron. Front Line Defenders believes that the arrest and other forms of harassment carried out against human rights defender Issa Amro are solely a result of his peaceful and legitimate human rights work.
