Following a petition filed by seven human rights groups against Interior Minister Eli Yishai 'splan to detain asylum seekers, the Jerusalem District Court issued a temporary injunction on Thursday.
According to Yishai's plan, 15,000 Sudanese asylum seekers were to be detained beginning October 15. As a result of the petitioners' pleas to file an interim order for the plan, the court issued an injunction, postponing detention until the matter is settled in court.
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According to the petition, The Prevention of Infiltration Law does not grant the Interior Minister the authority to decide upon arrests, and the only one authorized to order arrests based on suspicion of infiltration is the defense minister.
The petition branded Yishai's plan as "discriminatory, arbitrary and unjust. The violation of basic rights that it causes is extreme and severe."
The human rights groups incorporated a statement by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, contending that Yishai's claim that the Sudanese are not refugees is baseless.
According to them, the asylum seekers are refugees whose lives would be in danger if they were forced to return to their home country and that arresting the migrants should be a "last resort."