June 7, 2012
Benjamin Netanyahu
Prime Minister of the State of Israel

Israel: Illegal Arrest and Incommunicado detention of Nabil Al-Raee

Dear Benjamin Netanyahu,
I am William Nicholas Gomes, Human Rights Ambassador for Salem News.com.

I am writing to express my serious concern over the illegal arrest and Incommunicado detention of Nabil Al-Raee, the artistic director of the Freedom Theatre by the Israeli forces in the West Bank city of Jenin.

According to the information received “The soldiers came around 3:00 am (0000 GMT). I live upstairs so I came out to see what was happening,” Jonatan Stanczak told AFP.

He found the troupe’s artistic director Nabil al-Raee surrounded by Israeli forces, who refused to say why they were detaining him.

“The only answer you get is a gun in your face. When I went out I had three guns pointing at me, I was half-naked because I didn’t want them to think I had any weapons,” he said.

Nabil’s wife, Micaela Miranda explains what happened: “The dog started barking so I went outside and saw soldiers jumping over the gate and come into the yard of the house. They asked for my husband and I asked what for, that it’s my right to know and it’s my house. The soldiers replied that they were not going to tell me. They then took Nabil, brought him to an army jeep and drove off. We are very worried because we don’t know where they took him and why.”

This is not an isolated case, more than half the employees of The Freedom Theatre were recently called to interrogations by the Israeli army, including Nabil Al-Raee. All came to the appointments as scheduled and answered to their best of their knowledge the given questions even though they were intimidated and even threatened.

The theatre’s Israeli-Palestinian director, Juliano Mer-Khamis, was killed in April 2011 in the city’s refugee camp by an unknown gunman, and since then Israeli troops have arrested several members of the theatre, according to AFP

I am gravely concerned by the use of incommunicado detention through the issuing of Orders Prohibiting Meeting with Counsel by the Israeli authorities, as this represents a violation of the detainees’ rights under international law.

I want to request you the following:

i. take all necessary measures to guarantee the physical and psychological integrity of Mr. Nabil Al-Raee
ii. guarantee that he is granted regular and adequate access to legal representation and family visits;
iii. order his immediate release in the absence of valid legal charges, and if such charges exist, to ensure that he is given a prompt and fair trial, in which his procedural rights are guaranteed at all times;
iv. order a thorough and impartial investigation into the circumstances of these events, notably the allegations of torture, in order to identify those responsible, bring them to trial and apply the penal and/or administrative sanctions as provided by law;
v. guarantee the respect of human rights and the fundamental freedoms throughout the country in accordance with international human rights standards.

I request your urgent intervention.
Yours sincerely,
William Nicholas Gomes
Human Rights Ambassador for salem News.com
www.williamgomes.org
http://www.williamgomes.org/israel-illegal-arrest-and-incommunicado-detention-of-nabil-al-raee/

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