update on imprisoned objectors

["David Raban" <draban at pob.huji.ac.il>]

****PLEASE CITCULATE WIEDLY!*****

Dear friends,

There have been many developments during the past week, but I will start
with the good news:
Conscientious objector Uri Ya'acobi was exempt yesterday form military
service! This turn of events came as a complete surprise, since only hour
before he was released he was summoned to a court martial. The reason for
his release was "unsuitability". we wish to congratulate Uri and his family
and to thank all those who support him during his long struggle. I hope
that his release would strengthen the other prisoners of conscience, now
there seems to be an end in sightŠ

  During the last week the army has decided to change its approach towards
the young CO's. The army authorities decided to court martial objectors.
This is a very serious development, since a court martial can lead to
imprisonment of up to 3 years!.
Until now, Yoni Ben Artzi , Dror Boymel ,Uri Ya'acobi (who was exempt
later) and Haggai Mattar have been summoned to the court, and there are
indications that the other draft resistors will be summoned as well. There
is also an appeal to Supreme Court to release objector Dror Boymel.

This update will include:

-A new petition and a weekly vigil in front of the chief military attorney.
-The court martials and an appeal to the Supreme Court.
-Objectors currently in prison
-Objectors between prison terms
-Addresses of objectors
-Recommended action.


NEW ACTIVITIES

The parent forum of the young draft resistors have started a weekly
demonstration in front of the chief military attorney's house:
In protest against the repeated imprisonment of draft resisters!

we will hold a weekly vigil near the military attorney general's home

We'll make it clear to Menachem  Finkelstein that these repeated sentences
are unacceptable!
We'll tell him that conscientious objectors are not devoid of human rights!
we will remind the military attorney Every Firday, starting next Friday, 14
February, at 14:30,
will remind the military attorney general the number of
days these refuseniks have spent in military prisons.

Address: 12 Halevu St. Petah tikva.

New Petition:

There is a new petition for supporting CO's. the petition, including the
signatory list is intended to be published in the Israeli press. One ad has
already been published in Ha'aretz , and more will follow.
The petition reads:

Free the Prisoners of Conscience!

The State of Israel has been consistently abusing a group of young men who
have refused to be conscripted on grounds of conscience. While religion
continues to be a reason for exempting young men from army or national
service, conscientious objection is considered a serious crime. Despite the
fact that these objectors have announced their willingness to serve the
state through some kind of civil service, the military, led by Menachem
Finkelshtein the head military prosecutor, is punishing these young men
again and again for the same "offence."

It seems that there is no limit to the abuse: eleven young men have been
sitting in jail for terms that just keep getting longer, and there is no
end in sight. Finkelshtein wants to try them over and over again, until
they break or give in. As far as he is concerned, these men can rot in jail
forever. Finkelshtein has also created a committee of "experts" whose job
it is to determine that not one of the young men is a "true" conscientious
objector; every single one, the committee proclaimed, is lying and thus
deserves to sit in jail.

These prisoners of conscience refuse to serve in an army that
systematically violates the human rights of the Palestinian people. Yoni
Ben-Artzi, the most veteran prisoner, has sat in jail for almost 200 days.
By contrast, the soldier who killed a 95-year-old Palestinian woman was
sentenced to 35 days in prison.

Names of the prisoners days in jail

Yoni Ben-Artzi 196 days Dror Boymel 166 days Uri Ya'acobi 134 days
Haggai Matar 112 days Yoni Yekhezkel 111 days Matan Kaminer 84 days
Hillel Goral 70 days Noam Bahat 70 days Adam Maor 70 days
Shimri Tzameret 38 days Avshalom Ben-Zvi 21 days

We, the undersigned, demand an end to this abuse and the immediate release
of these prisoners of conscience.

**************************************************

to sign email:
<mailto:conscienceobjector at yahoo.com>conscienceobjector at yahoo.com
Mention your name, first and then last in the subject of the message.
In the message ad title and institutional affiliation, if applicable.

Please note: The success of this campaign depends to a large extent on the
funds we gather to support it. Placing an ad in a leading daily is very
expensive.
PLEASE, in addition to signing, contribute towards covering the cost.

Information on how/where to send contributions will be given in the last
part of the update.
Court martial and Supreme Court appeal:

As I mention earlier, so far 4 CO's were summoned to a court martial.
Unlike the usual trials they have encountered, a court martial is an
entirely different procedure. The judge in this trial a qualified person in
law, there is a prosecutor and an advocate, and it resembles a "real"
trial. These trials are open to the public to attend (but possibly not
internationals), and are covered by the media to some extent. Although the
refusers can defend themselves using an advocate, this is a serious step
taken by the army, because the court can decide on imprisonment of up to
three years. So far only preliminary hearings have taken place.
Although it's not clear why the army decided to take this unusual step (the
last court martial of an objector was in 1981) it seems reasonable to
believe that a court martial and subsequent punishment, if any, is the
final stage in the ongoing struggle of the refusers. It is not likely that
a CO will be summoned to repeated court-martials.
In addition, Dror Boymel has appealed to the Supreme Court demanding that
he will be exempt for reasons of pacifism, and against the repeated
sentences. I will give a detailed account on each CO's case.

Yoni Ben Artzi:
Adam Keller wrote ,last Thursday (20.2) ,the following detailed account,
which I will present here in full detail, since the other court hearings
were simillar:
Yesterday afternoon, the parents and supporters of the imprisoned
refusniks, as well as Israeli and foreign journalists and press photographers,
crowded the small hall of the Military Court in Jaffa (the former home of a
wealthy Arab family, taken over by the army in 1948), to witness the latest
developments in the case of CO Yoni Ben Artzi.

Originally, Ben Artzi gained media interest especially due to the piquant
fact of being the nephew of Foreign Minister Netanyahu. But by now, he had
gained a considerable reputation in his own right - a principled pacifist CO,
who had already served without flinching a total of 200 days' imprisonment,
in seven 28-day and 35-day installments. 

The latest development, leading Ben Artzi to the Court Martial which is
empowered to hand down a maximum of three years for his refusal to enlist,
started exactly a week ago, when he was taken from his prison cell to a
meeting with a Brigadier General at General Staff Headquarters in Tel-Aviv.
This personage went out of his way to appear friendly ("I am not talking to
you as a general to a draftee, but as Avi to Yoni, okay?") and made what
was supposed to be "a generous offer": Ben Artzi would consent to be
enlisted and have the legal status of a soldier, and in return the army would
grant him "an easy service, without a gun, uniform or military training".
Ben Artzi was given a few days to consider this offer, but in fact his
response had never been in doubt: he is willing and ready to give three
years for doing useful service to the benefit of Israeli society - but only
in a
civilian framework having nothing to do with the army; he is absolutely
unwilling to be part, in any capacity whatsoever, of an army, an organization
whose main aim is killing and violence; not of any army, in general, and
certainly not of an army of occupation engaged in large-scale brutal
oppression of another people.

Upon informing the authorities of his decision, Ben Artzi was informed in
turn that he would face a court martial, empowered to sentence him to up to
three years. Also, from that moment on he was subjected to a series of
petty humiliations, never before experienced during his previous
imprisonments: being handcuffed whenever taken from one place to another
(though he has never shown any inclination to run away); being held in a
cell without any furniture, so that he had to sit on the floor; being given
food
without utensils...

Three days of that were the prelude to yesterday's hearing, on the issue of
whether or not Ben Artzi should be remanded in custody until the end of the
court martial. The prosecutor went out of his way to be nasty, describing
Ben Artzi as "no better than any deserter or drug addict". He was no
pacifist, since "the competent military committee has already reviewed his
case" and decided he was not [One of the reasons for the verdict was that
Yoni had argued, and pacifists-according to the committee--do not
argue.Dorothy] He must be kept continually in prison, for the sake of
"deterrence", since letting him go free until the court martial renders its
verdict would "undermine discipline in the army".

Ben Artzi's lawyer, Adv. Michael Sfard from the office of the renowned
human rights lawyer Avigdor Feldman, rebutted these arguments, stating
that the "competent committee" was composed of military officers with no
knowledge of or interest in pacifist principles, that they were rejecting
virtually any claimant who appeared before them, and that Yoni Ben Artzi
was "the classical, clear-cut case of a principled pacifist: a person who
already chose pacifism and non-violence as the subject of his elementary
school essays, who in school refused to attend a judo class since that
involved using force, and who in the years before his conscription date had
boned up on the history and philosophy of pacifism - for which he had two
testimonies of university professors. Further, Adv. Sfard dismissed the
prosecution's claim of "undermined discipline" as frivolous and vindictive.
After several hours of often acrimonious debate, a compromise was
hammered out: pending the end of the court martial Ben Artzi would stay
neither at home nor in prison, but in "open detention" at the army's
Induction Center. There was still a further debate on whether or not the
prisoner would be allowed to spend the night in his parents' home, for what
may be the last occasion in a very long while. The prosecutor, in another
display of conspicuous narrow-mindedness, fiercely opposed it. In the end,
the judge, who seemed more fair-minded, granted that small boon.

This morning, Ben Artzi presented himself at the induction center for the
beginning of "the open detention". There had been a new confrontation with
a lieutenant-colonel who once again demanded that he enlist and
threatened "the stockade"; upon Ben Artzi's continuing firm refusal, the
colonel talked with his superiors and backed off - at least for the moment.

So Yoni is, at the moment on 'open detention', which is the army's
equivalent of house detention. During this period he is not considered to
have made an offence, so he is not treated as a prisoner.

Dror Boymel:
In Dror's case there have also been many developments:

Only hours after petitioning the Supreme Court on behalf of CO  Dror
Boymel, Boymel has been sent by the military authorities  to Military
prison-4 to await Court Martial in detention  ("maazar lifnei mishpat").
 Dror has already served 6 prison terms for refusal of military service on
pacifist grounds, altogether 168 days.
  On this morning (Friday, Feb.21) at 9:00a, Boymel will be brought for a
preliminary hearing before the Jaffa Military Court- just like Yoni Ben
Artzi three days earlier.
  ACRI (association for human rights in Israel) lawyer Avner Pinchuck who
defended Dror Boymel Thursday in the Supreme Court will be there, but since
he is  not authorized to appear before a military court, Boymel will  this
time be defended by another ACRI lawyer.
Soon after that a deal was reached with Dror: he agreed to go once and
again and face the "conscience committee" for the second time. The same
committee that denied the fact that he is a pacifist. This is not
necessarily good news, since the committee is likely to reach the same
absurd conclusion once more. The good side of things is that Dror is on
"vacation" at home until the next court hearing on march 6th. It also shows
some "flexibility" form the army's side.

Haggai Mattar:

Today (Wed., 26/2/03) , objector Haggai Mattar will be brought for a
preliminary hearing to the Jaffa Military Court , at the start of a
court-martial where he faces up to three years in prison. This, after he
has spent a total of 133 days behind bars already, in six installments of
28 or 35 days each. He is defended by Adv.  Dov  Hinin Today's court
session comes upon the heels of yesterday's good news: CO Uri Ya'akobi, who
also faced a court martial, was suddenly brought before the army's
"Incompatibility Committee" at the Induction Center in Tel Hashomer and
immediately discharged from the army, after spending 160 days behind bars.
According to an article published yesterday on Y-net, the simultaneous
release of Uri and court-martialling of Haggai are part of deliberate new
policy of "separation" in which the most severe treatment is reserved for
the so-called "political refusers", i.e. those who are not opposed to all
military service but "only" to serving in an army of occupation. Haggai
Matar is prime example of these.
There exists the twisted concept that refusing to serve the occupation is
not a matter of conscience whereas pacifism (though hitherto never
recognized) would be.
It is not at all certain that there is a new policy of "separation", but it
is clear that the army's approach is becoming more dynamic (for good & bad).

Currently in prison:

Rabi'a Jihad Sa'ad:

Rabi'a is imprisoned at the moment at prison no. 4, where he awaits his
court martial. This is his second imprisonment. At June last year he spent
21 days in jail. Rabi'a is a druze conscientious objector, who refuses to
serve in the army although he did enlist.  During the past six month he
"deserted" (stayed home without permission) and in that case a court
martial is  not an unusual step. Rabi'a requested to see the "unsuitability
committee" but all his requests were denied. It's important to note that
army's treatment of Druze CO's is more harsh that the others. On average, a
Druze CO spends a great deal more time on prison (this is also true form
immigrants form the former USSR).
Shimri Tzmeret:
Shimri is at present at prison no.4. on his second prison term, he is due
to be released in the next few days.
Matan Kaminer:
Matan is now serving his third prison term, in prison no.4. until now he
was sentenced to a total of 70 days. His is due to be released form this
term on March 3rd .
Adam Maor:
Adam was sentenced on Feb 23rd to a term prison term of 28 days. He is
currently in the isolation ward of prison no.4.
His expected release date: March 21st.

Shimri, Matan & Adam are all signatories of the "senior's letter"
<http://www.shministim.org/>www.shministim.org

Shahar Ben-Har:
Shahar is now approaching the end of his second prison term. He is spending
this one on Jala'me military police detention, he si due to be released on
March 2nd.
Shahar is a conscript who, after being in the army for more than a year
decided that he cannot remain silent any longer, he declared that he does
not see himself a soldier in the Israeli army anymore.
Nir Rehev:
Nir, a reserve OT objector was sentenced to 28 days in prison no. 6. his
term will end on March 4th .
Alon Ben-Ezer:
Alon, a reserve OT objector was sentenced to 28 days in prison no. 6. his
term will end on March 3rd  . Alon is 24 years old, studies political
science at Tel-Aviv university.
Amikam Baloko:
Amikam, a reserve OT objector was sentenced to 28 days in prison no. 6. his
term will end on March 9th .

Between prison terms:

Hillel Goral, Noam Bahat, Yoni Yehezkel. Have all completed their last
prison term and are expected to be tried again in the next few days.

Shmoel Baron:
We recently became aware of another objector, Shmoel Baron, who already
spent several prison terms.
Shmoel is a pacifist who is struggling, for a year now, to get released
from the army. A year ago he enlisted, because he was promised a service
without uniform or weapons, as a computer programmer. However he was sent
to undergo combat training. He has refused to carry a weapon, or to undergo
the combat training, and has already spent more than 120 days in prison,
most of that time is the isolation ward. Shmoel has written a very moving
and detailed account of his past year of struggle. The letter is too long
to be brought here, so I attach it as a text file.
At the moment, and for the next couple of days, Shoemel is home, because of
illness, however, he is expected to be imprisoned again when he returns.
Recommended action:
In this case the most effective action is to write to the commander of the
training base, and ask that Shmoel will be allowed to see an "unsuitability
committee". The address is:
Binyamin Shik
BSIS TIRUNIM
HANDASA KRAVIT
Military post 02302

Fax: +972 8 6352273
A sample letter:
To: Lieutenant Colonel Binyamin Shik,

I am writing to express my concern about a Shmoel Baron, i.d. 7172763, so
is currently under your command.
Shmoel is a pacifit , who does not believe in violence, and is not capable
of harming another human being. He refuses to take a weapon, and to undergo
combat training. While you would expect that  such a person, who wants to
serve his counry, would be  sent to a post where the use of arms or force
is not required, Shmoel's such requests were answered  with imprisonment
over and over again. until he has spent more that 120 days in prison, most
of that time in the isolation ward, where conditions are very harsh. How
long will this continue? . I feel that Shmoel is not the kind of person
that can become a soldier. I therefore urge you to let  Shmoel see an
unsuitability committee (VAADAT I- HATA'MA).
Cincerely,
It is always recommended and more effective to use the sample letter as a
source of inspiration only, and to send your own version.

Addresses of prisoners:
Shahar Ben-Har, Nir Rehev, Alon Ben-Ezer, Amikam Baloko:
[prisoners name]
POB 16238
Tel Aviv.
Rabi'a Jihad Sa'ad, i.d. 7232805, prison 4, military post 02507
Shimri Ztameret, i.d. 7305627, prisn 6, military post 01860
Matan Kaminer, i.d. 7176324, prison 4, military post 02507
Adam Maor, i.d. 7246164,prison 4, military post 02507

Recommended action:
-come to the weekly vigils mentioned above
-sign the petition stated above.
-we need donations so we can publish the petition in the media.

To contribute, please pay online or send a check.
Contribute Online:
To make a credit card contribution to support the prisoners of conscience,
go to http://www.refusersolidarity.net and click on the DonateNow button
on the left hand side of the screen. Under Allocation, select "Shministim
Petition".
Fill out the form and the donation will be used to pay for the ad and petition
in support of the objectors.

Contribute by Check outside Israel:
You can also write a check made out to "Refuser Solidarity Network",
write "Shministim" in the memo line, and mail it to:

RSN
PMB 206
2859 Central St
Evanston, IL 60201

Contribute by Check in Israel:
You can also write a check made out to "Yesh Gvul" and mail to:
Bronner
POBox 8384
Jerusalem 91083

Thank you for your support!

-there is yet another petition you can sign online:
<http://www.petitiononline.com/091202/petition.html>to sign kick on this
link

-send letters of support to those in jail
It is recommended to send letters of protest on behalf of the objectors to:

Mr. Shaul Mofaz,
Minister of Defence,
Ministry of Defence,
37 Kaplan St.,
Tel-Aviv 61909,
Israel.
E-mail: mailto:sar at mod.gov.il or mailto:pniot at mod.gov.il
Fax: ++972-3-696-27-57 / ++972-3-691-69-40 / ++972-3-691-79-15

Copies can be sent to the commanders of the prisons at:

Commander of Military Prison No. 4,
Military Prison No. 4,
Military postal number 02507,
IDF
Israel.
Fax: ++972-3-957-52-76

Another useful address for sending copies would be the Military Attorney
General:

Brig. Gen. Menachem Finklestein
Chief Military Attorney
Military postal code 9605
IDF
Israel
Fax: ++972-3-569-43-70

In the cases of draft resisters and conscripts it would be especially
useful to send your appeals to the Commander of the Induction Base in
Tel-Hashomer. It is this officer that ultimately decides whether an
objector is to be exempted from military service or sent to another round
in prison:
Deborah Chassid
Commander of Induction Base, Tel-Hashomer
Military Postal Code 02718, IDF
Israel.
Fax: ++972-3-737-60-52


You can also protest to the local Israeli embassy, you can find the
addresses on the web :
http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfh/Eng/Ntz/Ntz_Israel.asp?seek=1&let=85

Copies of appeals in can also be sent to:

Head of Incompatibles Unit
Induction Base (Baqum)
Tel-Hashomer
Fax: ++972-3-737-67-05.

Addresses of additional military and government officials, as well as those
of some Israeli media, to which you can send copies of your appeals, can be

found at this web address:
http://www.newprofile.org/english/Summery_CO_01.html (see the bottom of the
page).

Please be aware that writing to the media at this time is more important
than ever.

A standard sample letter is available at the bottom of the same web page
(http://www.newprofile.org/english/Summery_CO_01.html#sample). However it
would be advisable to adjust your letter to the particular circumstances of
the case.

Thank you,
David Raban, New Profile.


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