PARIS, Feb 27 (KUNA) -- France expressed regret on Tuesday over an Israeli decision to extend military-ordered "administrative detention" for a French national, with Palestinian origin, lawyer Salah Hamouri, who was due for release on February 28.
The French Foreign Ministry said in a briefing that Paris "demanded that all Salah Hamouri's rights be respected" and it added that French authorities "continue to hope for his rapid release." Hamouri, 32yrs, has been in administrative detention since August 2017, with no charges indicated to him or to his legal team.
Two days ago, the Israeli military extended this attention for another six months, despite Hamouri's release date set for Wednesday.
France has several times expressed concern about the abuse and overuse of administrative detention, a procedure overseen by a military court with no recourse and often no clear charges against the detainee.
"We have signaled to the Israeli authorities all the attention we are giving to this situation (Hamouri) and we have made known our concern with the extensive recourse to administrative detention," the foreign ministry said.
Hamouri was first arrested as a student in 2005 and held as part of an investigation into an assassination plot against an Israeli Rabbi.
After years of detention, he accepted to plead guilty to being part of the plot in a plea-bargain process advised by his lawyers and after which he got a seven-year jail term.
Hamouri was released in 2011 only to be detained again without charge in mid-2017. (end) jk.mb