Amnesty calls on Israel to stop 'bullying' activists
Rights group claims Israel waging "unrelenting campaign of harassment" against Palestinian rights activists.
By GABRIELLA TZVIA WEINIGERNabi Saleh Palestinian protest, gas canisters_311(photo credit: Reuters)
Amnesty International on Thursday night accused Israel of an “unrelenting campaign of harassment” against Palestinian rights activist Nariman Tamimi.She was placed under partial house arrest to prevent her taking part in protests while she awaits trial this week.This is the “latest in a litany of human rights violations against Nariman Tamimi, her family, and her fellow villagers. These arbitrary restrictions should be lifted immediately and the charges should be dropped,” said Philip Luther, Middle East and North Africa director at Amnesty International.Tamimi was arrested along with another activist, Rana Hamadi, on June 28, when villagers from Nabi Salih, northwest of Ramallah, walked toward a spring to hold a weekly protest in a land dispute with the Neveh Tzuf (Halamish) settlement.“They have been denied the basic human right to peacefully protest over land illegally seized by Israeli settlers, and the Israeli judiciary has used spurious legal tools to punish them for exercising their basic human right to peaceful protest,” Luther said.According to Amnesty International, Tamimi and Hamadi have been charged with being in a “closed military zone.” The trial is scheduled for Tuesday.
