Israel charges Palestinian professor despite successful appeal

5/30/2016 6:06:54 AM

(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Israeli security force member fires a tear gas canister towards Palestinian protesters in the occupied West Bank on March 30, 2016 (AFP Photo/Abbas Momani)

Ramallah, Palestinian Territories: In a duel within Israel's military court system, prosecutors filed charges against a prominent Palestinian academic days after a judge ordered him freed from internment, the army said late Sunday.

Astrophysics professor Imad Barghouti, 52, was arrested in April and imprisoned without trial for an initial three months, under an Israeli procedure known as administrative detention.

He is accused of inciting violence against Israel, and Israeli media say he is suspected of ties to the militant Islamist group Hamas.

His lawyers appealed to an Israeli military court, which on Thursday ruled that he should be freed on Sunday.

But military prosecutors now want to put him on trial and are asking for him to be kept behind bars in the meantime.

"The military prosecution appealed the ruling and filed an indictment, while requesting he be detained until the end of the proceedings," an army statement said.

"The military court has currently extended the detention until tomorrow (Monday). Tomorrow morning a hearing will be held."

Administrative detention allows Israel to hold prisoners without trial for periods of up to six months, renewable indefinitely.

About 7,000 Palestinians are in Israeli prisons, more than 10 percent of them in administrative detention.

AFP

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