ISLAMABAD, Sep 18 (APP): The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation’s Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission (OIC-IPHRC) on Monday denounced blatant human rights violations committed by the occupant forces of Indian and Israel against the unarmed and innocent Kashmiris and Palestinians.
Commission Member of the OIC Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission, Aboudou Ramanou Ali in his statement at the 54th Session of Human Rights Council in Geneva lambasted the Indian and Israeli authorities for usurping the fundamental rights of freedom to trial and expression in the occupied disputed territories, a news release here said.
“On behalf of the OIC Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission (IPHRC), I take this opportunity to express our deep regret and condemnation of the cruel, inhuman and grossly illegal practice of arbitrary detention, termed as ‘Administrative detention, exercised by the occupying powers of Israel and India against the occupied innocent Palestinians and Kashmiri Muslims,” the commission member said.
Israel and India routinely use administrative detention and has over the years, placed thousands of Palestinians and Kashmiris behind bars for periods ranging from several months to several years, without charging them or to allowing them engage with their lawyers, he said adding, “This constitute denial of fair trial and due process of law which is a serious violation of their human rights.”
According to figures published by the Israel Prison Service, in March 2023, Israel was holding 1,017 people in administrative detention including children.
Similarly, in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, Indian security forces have abused the Public Safety Act of 1978 to detain innocent civilians, including women and children and journalists and human rights defenders, on vague and arbitrary grounds on the apprehension that they may ‘likely’ commit an offence, he mentioned.
He emphasised that the lives of these prisoners and detainees were under serious threat because of the inhumane and unjust conditions imposed by the occupation authorities which constituted serious violation of international human rights and humanitarian laws.
The commission, while reiterating its full support to the inalienable rights of the Palestinian and Kashmiri people, underscored the need to end the cruel and unjust practice of administrative detention which helped maintain a system of apartheid against Palestinians and Kashmiris, he added.
