Palestinian journalist must be
allowed to call Jerusalem ‘home’,
say UN experts
say UN experts
GENEVA (31 July 2019) – Two UN
human rights experts have called on Israel to halt its efforts to deport the
Palestinian photojournalist Mustafa Al-Nadir Iyad Al-Kharouf, and to regularize
his status in Jerusalem.
During the night between 21 and 22
July, the Israeli authorities attempted to deport Mr. Al-Kharouf to Jordan, a
country where he does not have residency rights. Jordan did not accept the
deportation, and Mr. Al-Kharouf was returned to Israel.
“The effort by Israeli authorities
to deport Mr. Al-Kharouf to Jordan, where he has never lived and does not have
any legal residency rights, raises serious concerns under both international
humanitarian law and international human rights law,” said Michael Lynk,
Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian
territory occupied since 1967.
The Fourth Geneva Convention
prohibits forcible transfer and deportation of protected persons from occupied
territory to the territory of any other country. “Forcible transfer is considered a grave
breach of the Geneva Convention, and is defined as a war crime and a crime
against humanity by the Rome Statute,” he said.
Mr. Al-Kharouf has previously been
questioned about the nature of his work as a photojournalist. His application
for family unification, which would allow him to continue to live in East
Jerusalem with his wife and child, was denied on the basis of secret evidence
in December 2018. The Israeli authorities arrested him in January, alleging
that he has been illegally residing in Israel. Since his arrest, he has been
imprisoned, without charges, in Givon Prison, within Israel.
He was born in Algeria to a
Palestinian father and an Algerian mother, and he has lived in East Jerusalem
since the age of 12. His family's attempts over the years to regularize his
status were unsuccessful due to the bureaucratic and legal obstacles related to
the legal status of Palestinian Jerusalemites. In 2014 he was granted a visa on
humanitarian grounds which was not renewed in 2015 for unspecified and
undisclosed “security considerations”.
“The detention and deportation of
Mr. Al-Kharouf directly interfere with Al-Kharouf’s legitimate exercise of
rights to freedom of opinion and expression as a photojournalist,” said David
Kaye, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to
freedom of opinion and expression.
Both rapporteurs urged the
Government of Israel not to deprive Mr. Al-Kharouf of his liberty arbitrarily,
and to ensure that his rights to freedom of opinion and expression were
protected.
Palestinians living in East
Jerusalem face serious challenges to their residency in the city, with family
unification and other types of permits becoming increasingly precarious. “The
precedent which could be set by this case, should we see a Palestinian deported
to a country where he has no ties and no legal status, on the basis of secret
evidence, is highly problematic. We take this opportunity to remind the
Government of Israel of its solemn obligations under international law,” the
experts said.
ENDS
Mr. Michael Lynk was designated by the
UN Human Rights Council in 2016 as the Special Rapporteur on the situation of
human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967. The mandate was
originally established in 1993 by the then UN Commission on Human Rights.
Professor Lynk is Associate Professor of Law at Western University in London,
Ontario, where he teaches labour law, constitutional law and human rights law.
Before becoming an academic, he practiced labour law and refugee law for a
decade in Ottawa and Toronto. He also worked for the United Nations on human
rights and refugee issues in Jerusalem. Mr David Kaye, Special Rapporteur onthe promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression.
The Special Rapporteurs are part of
what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special
Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights
system, is the general name of the Council’s independent fact-finding and
monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or
thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures experts work on a
voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their
work. They are independent from any government or organization and serve in
their individual capacity.
UN Human Rights, Country Page:
Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel
For more information and media
requests, please contact Katharine Marshall (+41 (0) 22 917 9695 /
kmarshall@ohchr.org).
For media inquiries related to
other UN independent experts please contact
Jeremy Laurence, UN Human Rights –
Media Unit (+41 22 917 9383
jlaurence@ohchr.org
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independent human rights experts on Twitter @UN_SPExperts.
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