Inter-Parliamentary Union chair says expulsion violates human rights.
By ASSOCIATED PRESS, JPOST.COM STAFF, KHALED ABMuhammad Abu Tir 311(photo credit: Associated Press)
Representatives of parliaments from around the world on Thursday criticized Israel for its decision to deport Palestinian parliamentarian Mohamed Abu Tir. The Inter-Parliamentary Union criticized Cambodia and 19 other countries for their treatment of lawmakers.The chair of the group's human rights committee, Rosario Green, urged Israel not to deport Palestinian lawmakers Mohammed Abu Tir, Mohammed Totah and Ahmed Abu Atoun after they were recently released from prison.RELATED:Exile next week for Abu Tir after releaseAbu Tir charged in JerusalemThe three were expelled from Jerusalem due to their links to Hamas. But Green, a former Mexican foreign minister, said the expulsion violates the lawmakers' human rights.The Jerusalem Magistrate's Court on Wednesday ruled that Hamas member and legislator Muhammad Abu Tir will be released from detention and exiled from the country next Sunday, if he can post bail of NIS 50,000.He is also required to post NIS 100,000 self-bail and NIS 100,000 third-party bail.Abu Tir was imprisoned for refusing to leave Jerusalem after Interior Minister Eli Yishai invalidated his Jerusalem residence permit along with those of Totah, Abu Atoun and one other Palestinian legislator for their affiliation with terror group Hamas.The Hamas leader, a resident of Sur Bahir, a village located within the municipal boundaries of Jerusalem, previously claimed that the police informed him that he had lost his status as a permanent resident of the city because of his membership in Hamas. He failed to comply with a court order to leave Jerusalem by June 30.
