update on imprisoned objectors

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

Dear friends,



Today's update will include :

-         information on CO's currently in prison, and lately released.

-         The military ruling in the case of Yoni Ben-Artzi

-         Details of the last court session in the trial of  "the five"





In prison:



Yoel Perlman:

Yoel, a pacifist, is now on his fourth prison term. He is currently held in
the isolation ward of prison 4, and he is going to be tried in a court
martial for desertion on November 27th. Yoel is currently trying to get
exempt through the unsuitability committee. You can write him letters of
support to the following adrress:

Yoel Perlman, 15/2 Nordau st., Kfar-Saba, 44391.

Or via email: lipperl at actcom.co.il

Or directly to his prison address:

Yoel Perlman, agaf habidud, prison 5, military post 02507



Konstantin Soskin:

Konstanrtin, a pacifist, is currently held in prison no. 4, in the
isolation ward. You can write him letters to:

Konstantin Soskin, agaf habidud, prison 5, military post 02507.



In both the cases of Yoel and Konstantin it is useful to write to the Chief
Military Attorney (address in the end) demanding too respect the right for
conscientious objection and release these two pacifists.





Inbal Gelbert:

 Inbal, a pacifist, has spent 12 days in military prison after she refused
to enlist into the Israeli army.

Although female objectors usually get exempt form military service, Inbal's
request to stand before the conscience committee was refused and she was
ordered to enlist and then imprisoned for her refusal.

At the moment Inbal is waiting to see whether the army decided to let her
see the committee or not.



-Gil Avinmelech: was sentenced to 28 days in prison no. 6 for refusing to
serve in the occupied territories.

Expected release date: 24.11



-Ariel Hendels: was sentenced to 28 days in prison no. 4 for refusing to
serve in the occupied territories.

Expected release date: 9.12



-Laiv Tzahi: was sentenced to 28 days in prison no. 4 for refusing to serve
in the occupied territories.

Expected release date: 9.12



-Eezra Peres: was sentenced to 28 days in prison no. 4 for refusing to
serve in the occupied territories.

Expected release date: 4.12



-Tom Mehager: was sentenced to 28 days in prison no. 6, for refusing to
serve in a road-block which was erected for the purpose of collective
punishment  of the Palestinian population who lives nearbye. expected
relase date: 4.12



Addresses for sending letters:

 Letters for all those in jail can be sent by email to: dash at seruv.org.il

We recommend using the email option. However, if you wish to send a
hand-written letters or postcards you can send them to:

[CO's name], POB 16238 Tel Aviv.









 Yoni Ben-Artzi's trial: the ruling.

A military tribunal accepted the heart of Yonatan Ben-Artzi's argument that
he is a pacifist Wednesday, even as it ruled that he is guilty of failing
to follow his draft orders by acting on his beliefs.

In doing so, the court came out with a ruling that differed from the IDF's
conscience committee, which rejected Ben-Artzi's request to be labeled a
pacifist. But since it does not have the authority to overturn the
committee decision, it asked the IDF to reexamine that ruling because it is
not an appeal body for the committee

The 20-year old has been in custody for the last 18 months while fighting
for the right to be called a pacifist, rather than relying on a
psychological exemption from military service.

Michael Sfarad, Ben-Artzi's attorney, described the conviction as
"technical" in that the judges noted the fact that his client had not
obeyed his draft orders, but accepted the main argument driving the case,
that he is a pacifist and that the IDF's conscience committee was flawed in
its process Sfarad said he was pleased by the half-victory.
"After two years, at least it was made clear that Yoni is sincere and not
looking for the easy way out," he said. "He tells the truth. All this is
important, because the army was saying that Yoni is an impostor. and this
is something that made us very angry."

In a press statement the IDF noted that the ruling separated the question
of whether Ben-Artzi is a pacifist form that of his refusal to follow
orders and that as such he could be punished.

No date has yet been set for sentencing, Sfard said he is waiting until
after the sentencing before considering the next legal step



The "five" trial:



Here are the details of the last court session in the trail of Shimri
Tzameret, Noam Bahat, Noam Kaminer, Hagai Mattar & Adam Maor.

But first a reminder: the five are on trial for refusing to enlist to
Israeli army since it is an army of occupation, which contradict their
conscience. After spending some month in military prison they were called
to stand in a court martial, during which they will stay in "open
detention" i.e., spend their time doing various activities in an army base
(such as gardening), with a leave every third weekend.

They are allowed to call.

After several months of trial, both sides have finished their arguments and
now we are waiting for the ruling, which, according to the judge, will take
some a few weeks more , at least. Now for the details:


Adv. Dov Chenin, started his well-constructed exposition. "Last week in
this courtroom, my colleague of the prosecution went on at length about the
danger of anarchy and chaos which would ensue from tolerating Conscientious
Objection. I defy him to produce even a single historical example of a
state or society which was disrupted by the recognition of the Freedom of
Conscience. There is none. But many are the examples of horrors which came
upon societies and states by an excess of Non-conscientious Obedience.

The experiments of Milgrom and other social psychologists have shown that a
large part of humanity is capable of tolerating and taking part in evil
acts - not necessarily out of cruelty or sadism, but simply out of
conformism and acceptance of authority. Those who defy authority and stick
to their own deeply-held perception of right and  wrong are a vital
lubricant to society.

As Judge Aharon Barak, President of the Supreme Court, has shown, from that
moment on the basic human rights have become a
fundamental norm of Israeli law, a norm to which all state institutions and
agencies must conform. All state institutions and agencies, that also
includes the army. And, as Judge Barak and his colleagues pointed out on
numerous occasions, among these rights, and not the least of them, is the
Freedom of Conscience.

This does not mean, of course, that every person can take any action which
comes to mind, and claim that it deserves to be defended by  the Freedom of
Conscience. It is up to the person to prove that said action  does indeed
derive from conscience - that is, from deep and fundamental convictions
about right and wrong, convictions so deep and fundamental that by breaking
them you would break the person. But once a person proves this point - and
it is my contention that the five young men standing trial here did amply
prove that their refusal to enlist in an army of occupation does originate
from such deeply held  convictions - then that person's act is protected as
part of the Freedom of Conscience. In our legal system, no right is
absolute - neither the Freedom of Speech nor the Freedom of Movement, and
also not the Freedom of Conscience. When a person is suspected of a crime,
the police may  arrest him and put him in a cell, which evidently violates
his liberty. But  the police may not do so arbitrarily. There is a law
which defines  exactly when they may arrest a person, how long they can
hold him and under what conditions. The same with any other right. It may be
infringed in order to preserve another right or a value upheld by society -
but as the Basic Law states and the Supreme Court  eiterated, such  an
infringement of a basic right can only be justified when it is according to
a specific law and when there is a near certainty of its  being needed for
the sake of preserving another value.

In the entire presentation made last week by my colleague of the
prosecution, not the slightest mention was made of any of this. No
reference to a law by which the military authorities may infringe the
Freedom of Conscience, no proof that such infringement was needed with near
certainty. It is not the prosecutor's fault that such a huge  gaping hole
was left in the argument which he presented. He did his work
conscientiously, faithfully representing the position and practice  of the
military authorities. It is simply that those authorities have not  yet
realized that a constitutional revolution has occurred, and that it
applies to them, too. Still, this hole does gape, and through it the five
accused must walk out free." Adv. Chenin sat down.

"The court thanks the prosecution and defence for the well-thought out
presentations which they made to this court. This is a very
complicated case, which the court will have to deliberate closely. Don't
expect a verdict in less than several weeks."


(Report made by Adam Keller for the Refuser Parents Forum)

What can we do?



First of all, please circulate this message and the information contained in
it as widely as possible, not only through e-mail, but also on websites,
conventional media, by word of mouth, etc.


1.Sending Letters of Support for Prisoners


2. Letters to Authorities

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:

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.