MK Nissan Slomiansky
Photo: Gil Yohanan
Knesset committee considers opening administrative detention proceedings to public
The committee is set to discuss a proposal that would have administrative detention proceedings held before the public, in addition to allowing the justice minister, and not just the defense minister, to issue such warrants.
The Constitution, Law and Justice Committee (CLJC) will consider a new proposal on Thursday about whether to make administrative detention proceedings and limitation warrants dealing with both Jewish and Arab suspects of terrorism open to the public.
With the passing of the Anti-Terrorism Law at the end of the Knesset’s summer session, the CLJC, headed by MK Nissan Slomiansky (Bayit Yehudi), decided to separate it from the Administrative Detention Law, due to concerns that grouping detainees suspected of future acts of terrorism with those already found to be affiliated with a terrorist organization or those who have incited terrorism themselves, would encroach on the freedom and rights of the detainees.
MK Nissan Slomiansky (Photo: Gil Yohanan)
Administrative detention can be carried out without necessarily bringing forth evidence that is usually required in standard court proceedings. Rather, it is based on confidential intelligence to which even the suspects and their lawyers are not always privy.
Until recently, administrative detentions were carried out in accordance with laws dating back to the British Mandate and Israel’s annually renewed “state of emergency.”
Currently, only the defense minister is permitted to issue an administrative detention warrant. If accepted, the new proposal would extend that authority to the justice minister.
The proposal also included suggestions to have the district court tending to administrative matters to oversee limitation warrants issued to individuals suspected of terrorism, and to further clarify the expenses that issuing such limitations entail, which at present remain relatively vague.
