This piece was reprinted by OpEd News with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.
Israeli-Style Justice - by Stephen Lendman
Israeli military tribunals judge Palestinians guilty by accusation.
Accused Israelis face charges in civil courts. Military tribunals try Palestinians. Virtually everyone is guilty by accusation. A new study says so. More on that below.
In April 2008, the Addamer Prisoners Support and Human Rights Association published a report titled "Defending Palestinian Prisoners: A Report on the Status of Defense Lawyers in Israeli Courts."
It explained obstacles lawyers representing Palestinians face in court. They're hampered by military orders, Israeli laws, and prison procedures that prevent them from adequately helping clients. They're hamstrung from time of arrests through detentions, interrogations, trials, imprisonments, appeals, and other constraints against justice.
Yet international law is clear and unequivocal. Article 2, section 3(b)(c) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) states:
....(P)ersons "shall have (the) right (to effective remedy through a) competent judicial, administrative or legislative (authority), or by any other competent authority provided for the legal system of the State (to) ensure that the competent authorities shall enforce (judicial) remed(ies)."
Article 14, section 1 states:
"All persons shall be equal before the courts and tribunals (and) shall be entitled to a fair and public hearing by a competent, independent and impartial tribunal established by law." They shall "be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law."
Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).