Israel : sentence of one year imprisonment pronounced against five Israeli conscientious objectors

Paris, Geneva, 5 January 2004.

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint
programme of the FIDH and the OMCT is very concerned at the sentence
of one year imprisonment pronounced against five Israeli
conscientious objectors (COs) on 4 January 2004 by the Military Court
in Jaffa.

Noam Bahat, Adam Maor, Haggai Matar, Shinri Tsameret and Matan
Kaminer, who are among more than 300 high school seniors, who refuse
to serve in military forces involved in the occupation of Palestinian
Territories are considered as "selective conscientious objectors", as
they do not refuse to enlist in the army whatever, but refuse to join
an army of occupation.

They have already been detained over a year for refusing to serve in
the army. On December 16, 2003, the five were convicted of refusing
to obey an order. On January 4, 2004, the court sentenced them to one
year imprisonment. It further recommended that the army consider
their discharge after this period of time. However, the Israelian
Defence Forces (IDF) has the possibility to demand they be mobilized
or face additional jail time after their sentence is completed.

On 12 November 2003, conscientious objector Jonathan Ben Artzi was
convicted by the Military Court in Jaffa for disobeying an order by
refusing to serve in the Army. Nevertheless, the Court recognized him
as being a pacifist and recommended that he appears once again before
the Military Conscientious Committee (see the judicial observation
mission report of the Observatory : Israel: conscientious objection
tackled by military justice, Ben Artzi trial, December 2003).
Jonathan Ben Artzi is still detained awaiting for the final verdict
of the Court.

The Observatory considers that these sentences violate the right to
freedom on conscience, thought and religion enshrined in article 18
of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR),
to which Israel is a party. On April 16, 2003, the Observatory,
considering their detention to be arbitrary, brought the cases of
conscientious objectors in Israel before the UN Working Group on
Arbitrary Detention.

The use of military courts to try COs is also source of concern.
Recommendations by human rights experts of the Sub-Commission for the
Promotion and Protection of
Human Rights indicate that civil courts should deal with similar
cases to ensure impartiality and independence of justice towards
those people willing to exercise their
freedom of conscience and opinion.

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders demands
that:
- the conscientious objectors that are currently arbitrarily detained
and judged before the military court be released;
- the Israeli legislation as well as the military authorities
recognize the right to conscientious objection as a legitimate
exercise of the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion
as contained in article 18 of the International Covenant for Civil
and Political Rights by establishing an independent and impartial
committee in charge of examining the cases;
- a true alternative civil service which is not of a punitive nature
be established;
- Israel conform with the provisions of the Universal Declaration on
Human Rights and the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders (1998).

Press contact : FIDH: 00 33 1 43 55 25 18 - OMCT: 00 41 22 809 49 39