Israel Slams Detention Order on Palestinian Prisoner Who Spent 12 Years in Jail
Israeli authorities issued a six-month administrative detention order against a Palestinian prisoner on the day he was scheduled to be released after spending more than 12 years in prison, the Palestinian Prisoner Society said Thursday.
In a statement, the nongovernmental group said Israeli intelligence issued the order against Mohammad Ahmad Abdel Wahab al-Madani, 32, from Askar refugee camp east of Nablus in the northern West Bank, after he completed his sentence.
Israel uses administrative detention to hold Palestinians without charge or trial, based on classified files, with detention orders renewable for repeated periods.
Al-Madani had been due to complete his original 12-year jail sentence on May 30, 2026, the society said.
Israeli authorities brought another case against him during his detention, extending his sentence by two additional months and imposing a fine, it added.
Al-Madani’s family went Wednesday to a military checkpoint to welcome him back, before his lawyer informed them that Israeli authorities had issued a six-month administrative detention order, preventing his release, the group said.
The society said al-Madani’s case “is not an exceptional case,” but falls within an Israeli policy that has seen an “unprecedented expansion” in the use of administrative detention against Palestinians, especially since the start of Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza in October 2023.
According to the organization, the number of new and renewed administrative detention orders has exceeded 20,000 since the start of the Gazawar, while the number of administrative detainees reached 3,244 by early July.
Israeli authorities did not exclude children, women, the elderly, the sick or the wounded from administrative detention, the group said.
It noted that 180 children were held under administrative detention by the end of last year, while dozens of women have been subjected to the measure since the start of the war.
The society called on the international community, the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross to act urgently to pressure Israel to end its administrative detention policy and release administrative detainees.
Israel holds around 9,400 Palestinian prisoners, including 94 women, more than 350 children, 3,244 administrative detainees and 1,320 people it classifies as “unlawful combatants,” according to Palestinian figures.
Palestinian and Israeli rights groups say prisoners face torture, starvation and medical neglect, leading to the deaths of dozens. Anadolu
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