Case History: Shawan Jabarin
On 1 March 2016, Mr Shawan Jabarin, human rights defender and General Director of the human rights organisation Al-Haq, received death threats over the phone from an anonymous caller. The threats come in the context of increasing harassment of Al-Haq and its members amid their recent work at the International Criminal Court (ICC) seeking justice for human rights violations being committed in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Shawan Jabarin is a Palestinian human rights defender, General Director of the Palestinian human rights organization Al-Haq. He is also a member of Human Rights Watch Middle East Advisory Board. He was Amnesty International's first Palestinian Prisoner of Conscience, and he has worked for years promoting human rights in the face of Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories.
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- 8 March 2016 : Attacks against human rights defender Shawan Jabarin and the human rights organisation Al-Haq
- 23 February 2012 : Human rights defender Mr Shawan Jabarin allowed under strict conditions to travel to Geneva to meet a UN expert
- 1 December 2011 : Travel ban on human rights defender Mr Shawan Jabarin continues
- 19 March 2009 : Israeli Supreme Court upholds travel ban against Palestinian human rights defender, Mr Shawan Jabarin
- 5 March 2009 : Open letter to the Defense Minister and the Commander of Military Forces in the West Bank
- 4 February 2009 : Travel ban on human rights defender, Mr Shawan Jabarin
On 1 March 2016, Mr Shawan Jabarin, human rights defender and General Director of the human rights organisation Al-Haq, received death threats over the phone from an anonymous caller. The threats come in the context of increasing harassment of Al-Haq and its members amid their recent work at the International Criminal Court (ICC) seeking justice for human rights violations being committed in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
The threats were received in a phone call to Shawan Jabarin from an anonymous caller. Al-Haq has repeatedly faced harassment as a result of its engagement in the defence of human rights in Palestine. The threats against the organisation have recently witnessed an acute increase in the wake of the organisation putting pressure on the Palestinian Authorities to join the ICC, and their making of a submission, along with Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights, Aldameer and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), to the ICC Prosecutor’s Office, urging it to open an investigation into ongoing human rights violations in Palestine.
In February 2016, a human rights lawyer representing Al-Haq before the International Criminal Court also received direct death threats. Staff members of the organisation have also recently noticed unusual activity on their mobile phones and in their email accounts. Al-Haq has regularly received hacking attacks and Trojan Horse viruses. In September 2015, several of Al-Haq’s European donors received false letters from an individual claiming to be an official from the Palestinian authorities. In the letters, the individual made untrue and unfounded allegations that the organisation is facing investigation for “financial irregularities, corruption, fraud and misuse of donations and funds”.
Shawan Jabarin has been subjected to numerous acts of harassment in response to his human rights work in the past. In November 2011, Israeli authorities prevented him from traveling to Denmark to accept a prize from the Danish PL Foundation in recognition of his human rights work. In March 2009 he was scheduled to travel to the Netherlands to receive the Geuzenpenning Award on behalf of Al-Haq for its work for democracy and against discrimination, however the Israeli Supreme Court passed a decision upholding a previous travel ban against him and he was not permitted to travel. He first faced travel restrictions in October 2006, when Israeli authorities denied him permission to leave the West Bank for human rights conferences in different countries.
On 22 February 2012, the Supreme Court granted Mr Shawan Jabarin permission to go to Geneva to meet with Mr Frank La Rue, the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression despite a travel ban being in place against him.
On 22 February 2012, following an appeal hearing at the Israeli Supreme Court, the court allowed Shawan Jabarin to travel to Geneva once under strict conditions including the payment of a financial guarantee for the sole purpose of going to the UN offices to meet Mr La Rue.
In 2006, shortly after Shawan Jabarin was appointed director of Al-Haq, a travel ban was imposed against him based on “secret evidence” from Israel's General Security Service that neither Jabarin or his lawyers have been allowed to see or challenge. Since then he has not been permitted to travel outside of the Israeli- occupied West Bank which had negatively impacted on his human rights work.
Shawan Jabarin has not been charged with any crime and Front Line Defenders believes that the travel ban imposed against him is solely related to his human rights activities.
On 28 November 2011, leading Palestinian human rights defender Shawan Jabarin was prevented by the Israeli authorities from crossing the Allenby/King Hussein Bridge on the Jordan-West Bank border to travel to Denmark to accept a prize from the Danish PL Foundation in recognition of his human rights work.
Shawan Jabarin was also planning to go to New York to attend Human Rights Watch's Middle East and North Africa Advisory Committee board meeting and to attend the EU-NGO Forum on Human Rights to be held in Brussels. The Danish PL Foundation 2011 Prize for Freedom has been jointly awarded to Al-Haq and B’Tselem, a prominent Israeli human rights group. The two groups also shared the Geuzen Medal in 2009, awarded by a Dutch anti-Nazi group, but Shawan Jabarin was prevented from travelling to the Netherlands to receive the award at the time.
The Israeli authorities claim that allowing Shawan Jabarin to travel abroad would pose a threat to Israel's security and refer to an Israeli court ruling which found him guilty of belonging to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which the Israeli authorities regard as a terrorist organisation. The court ruling was based on secret materials provided by the Israeli intelligence which were not disclosed in the courtroom, nor shown to the Defence.
Shawan Jabarin has been unable to travel outside the West Bank since 2006, which has negatively affected his legitimate human rights work. As an eminent human rights defender, Shawan Jabarin is known for the rigorous and impartial work in exposing human rights violations committed by the Israeli authorities, and for publicly condemning acts of torture perpetrated by the Palestinian authorities and suicide killings carried out by armed Palestinian groups.
Front Line is concerned following the decision of the Israeli Supreme Court to uphold a travel ban against Palestinian human rights defender, Mr Shawan Jabarin, on 10 March 2009. Shawan Jabarin was scheduled to travel to the Netherlands on 13 March 2009 to receive the Geuzenpenning Award, on behalf of Al Haq.
On 10 March 2009, the Israeli Supreme Court passed a decision to uphold a travel ban against Shawan Jabarin following two separate hearings on 5 March and 9 March 2009. The hearing of 5 March 2009 was attended by Ms Hina Jilani, Front Line Board member and former Special Representative of the UN Secretary General on Human Rights Defenders. Shawan Jabarin's lawyer made special mention of her presence and submitted her report on Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) as part of his evidence. The hearing was also attended by Front Line's Director, Ms Mary Lawlor, and Deputy Director, Mr Andrew Anderson. Both Mary Lawlor and Andrew Anderson had met with Shawan Jabarin in Ramallah on 3 March 2009.
Spokeswoman of the Israeli Court, Ayelet Filo, claimed that Shawan Jabarin was “involved with terror groups” and that the court had “real evidence” of this, meaning that Shawan Jabarin would not be allowed to travel due to security concerns. The online edition of daily newspaper Haaretz reported that Ms Edith Kwakernaak, spokeswoman of the Geuzen Resistance Foundation in the Netherlands, said that the group was shocked and disappointed by the Israeli decision and that freedom of movement is a human rights principle.
Over the course of the two hearings - parts of which were conducted ex parte with only the judges, the State Attorney and members of the Israeli General Security Services (GSS) present -, the three-judge panel made repeated attempts to resolve the matter by exploring the possibility of a limited travel permit or a 'creative' solution that partially realises the petitioner's ability to enjoy his right to freedom of movement, but the GSS refused to alter their position and the Court eventually deferred to the position of the GSS. Despite acknowledging that denying Jabarin's lawyer access to the 'evidence' against his client may compromise the fairness of the trial, the Court nonetheless upheld the travel ban on the sole basis of the secret 'evidence' that Shawan Jabarin is an active member of a 'terrorist' organisation.
Since October 2006, Israeli authorities have reportedly denied Shawan Jabarin permission to leave the West Bank for human rights conferences in different countries. However, between 1999 and February 2006, before Shawan Jabarin became General Director of Al Haq, he was allowed to leave the West Bank on eight separate occasions.
Today - 3 March 2009 - 10 human rights organisations in Israel wrote to the Defense Minister and the Commander of Military Forces in the West Bank, sharply protesting the denial of the freedom of movement of Shawan Jabarin, Executive Director of the Palestinian human rights organization al-Haq. Since Jabarin was appointed, in 2006, Israel has not allowed him to leave the West Bank. The organisations called for the prohibition on Jabarin’s exiting the West Bank be lifted. Otherwise, he will be prevented from obtaining a prestigious award for al-Haq’s work in advancing human rights.
Between 1999 and 2006, Jabarin was permitted to leave the West Bank eight times. Since his appointment as Executive Director of al-Haq, however, the Israeli authorities have not permitted him to go abroad. Three petitions that Jabarin filed in the Israeli High Court of Justice against the prohibition were denied, based on privileged material provided to the court, on the grounds that he is active in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Jabarin was given no opportunity to confront the allegations against him, and was never questioned or summoned for interrogation.
Last month, al-Haq and B'Tselem were jointly awarded the “Geuzen Resistance 1940-1945” prize. Jabarin is scheduled to accept the award on behalf of al-Haq at a ceremony to be held on 13 March. Three weeks ago, he was informed that he is still prohibited from exiting the West Bank by the Commander of Military Forces in the West Bank.
In their letter, the organisations point out that freedom of movement is a fundamental human right enshrined in international and Israeli law. Prohibiting a person to go abroad, a severe impediment to freedom of movement, is permissible only in exceptional cases, when no other option is available.
On Thursday, 5 March , at 11:30 A.M., the Isreali High Court will hear another petition of Jabarin, filed by attorney Micha’el Sfard, against the movement prohibition imposed on him. Mary Lawlor, Executive Director of Front Line is attending the hearing.
Front Line is concerned following reports that a travel ban has been imposed on Mr Shawan Jabarin, General Director of Al Haq, an independent Palestinian non-governmental organisation based in Ramallah, West Bank. Shawan Jabarin was scheduled to travel to the Netherlands on 13 March 2009 to collect a human rights prize on behalf of Al Haq. No formal order has been issued, nor have the authorities explained why the travel restrictions have been imposed. The Israeli High Court of Justice allegedly rejected a petition to overturn the travel ban on the basis of “secret evidence”, which was not disclosed to Shawan Jabarin or his legal advisors.
Since October 2006, Israeli authorities have reportedly denied Shawan Jabarin permission to leave the West Bank for human rights conferences in different countries. However, between 1999 and February 2006, before Shawan Jabarin became General Director of Al Haq, he was allowed to leave the West Bank on eight separate occasions.
