Israel bans former PFLP operative from traveling to Amsterdam
By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
The Israeli Supreme Court on Tuesday banned a Palestinian human rights activist from traveling to Amsterdam to receive a prize.
Shawan Jabarin, the West Bank-based director of Palestinian human rights organization al-Haq, hoped to travel to the Netherlands Friday to receive the "Geuzenpenning Prize" on behalf of his organization.
But courts administration spokeswoman Ayelet Filo said the court ruled there was "real evidence that he is involved with terror organizations, and therefore he will not be allowed to leave out of security concerns."
In 1985, Jabarin was convicted by an Israeli court of terror activity on behalf of the radical Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. He served nine months in prison. Israel put him in administrative detention in 1994, charging that he was still active in the PFLP, and has stopped him from traveling several times in the past.