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The police vs. human rights

Thursday, 14. November 2013 - 14:02

A law expanding administrative detention to the criminal realm would be an unconstitutional violation of the right to freedom.

Administrative detention, the arrest and detention of individuals without trial, is meant to be used in extreme emergencies, when the subject poses a clear and immediate danger to state security or public safety. It must be used sparingly and as a last resort because it entails a fundamental breach of civil rights, first and foremost the right to legal proceedings prior to incarceration and the rights of detainees.

Administrative detention offers a way around the rules of evidence. Arguments are heard behind closed doors, and there is no requirement of proof beyond reasonable doubt. But civil rights don’t interest Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch, whose purview includes the Israel Police. “Enough with the hypocrisy and those human rights organizations,” he said Tuesday in remarks to an Israeli journalists’ convention in Eilat on Tuesday.

He and Police Commissioner Yohanan Danino are advancing a number of bills that would expand the powers of the police. The most prominent would allow members of criminal organizations to be placed in administrative detention, in accordance with the Defense (Emergency) Regulations.

Administrative detention has been permitted in Israel since the 1970s, but until recently it has mainly been used in the territories, where for years it has been an integral part of the occupation. The measure has been expanded to include asylum seekers, who have been detained for long periods without trial. Now the state wants to use it against another group.

Criminal rings must be dealt with firmly, but administrative detention is not the answer. Casting off the rule of law is more dangerous than the crime organizations themselves. This infringement on fundamental legal rights, including on those of the worst criminal, opens the door to the inconsidered use of administrative detentions and even more dangerous interpretations of the practice in the future that could affect other groups.

Instead of becoming more effective and using professional methods to prevent crime, the Israel Police once again choose to violate human and civil rights and to attack the watchdogs laboring to guard them. This can also be seen in the rise in indictments against demonstrators in 2012.

Contrary to Aharonovitch’s opinion, the activities of the human rights organizations are based not on hypocrisy but rather on protecting the foundations and building blocks of democracy. A law expanding administrative detention to the criminal realm would be an unconstitutional violation of the right to freedom.

Haaretz Editorial

Source: 
www.haaretz.com
Tags: 
human rightsadministrative detention
Israel police