ADALAH PRESS RELEASE
3 October 2010
Ms. Maguire Remains in Detention for Six Days and in Failing Health
Supreme Court Hearing in Jerusalem Tomorrow Monday 4 October 2010 at 9:00 AM
(Haifa, Israel) This morning, Sunday 3 October 2010, Adalah filed an appeal to the Israeli Supreme Court on behalf of Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire against the decision of the Central District Court in Petah Tikvah on 1 October 2010 rejecting her petition and ordering her deportation from Israel.
The Supreme Court will hear the appeal tomorrow Monday 4 October 2010 at 9AM before Chief Justice Beinisch and Justices Gronis and Hendel. Following Adalah's request, the Supreme Court also issued an injunction against Ms. Maguire's deportation until the end of the proceedings.
In the appeal, Adalah argued that there is no valid deportation order from the Interior Ministry against Ms. Maguire; that the Central District Court did have the authority to cancel any deportation order of the Interior Ministry, if indeed such an order exists; and that due process requires that Ms. Maguire be permitted to challenge any order before Israeli courts. The District Court based its decision on procedural grounds, disregarding the violation of Ms. Maguire's basic rights. Adalah's General Director Attorney Hassan Jabareen and Adalah Attorneys Orna Kohn and Fatmeh El-'Ajou submitted the appeal.
Ms. Maguire fell ill on Friday evening 1 October following her court hearing and was taken to a local hospital for tests. Ms. Maguire rested in the hospital for three hours before returning to her holding cell at Ben-Gurion International Airport. Detention officers allowed Ms. Maguire only partial access to her medical records and refused a phone call to her husband in Ireland. Ms. Maguire has now been in detention for six days.
At the hearing tomorrow, Adalah will also renew demands that Ms. Maguire be allowed to enter Israel and join the Nobel Women’s Initiative for the final day of their week-long visit with women peace-builders in Israel and the West Bank (http://www.nobelwomensinitiative.org/).
Attending the Supreme Court hearing tomorrow will be:
- Jody Williams, the Chair of the Nobel Women's Initiative, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 for her work to ban antipersonnel landmines through the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL);
- Ann Patterson, a member of the Nobel Women's Initiative delegation, and the co-founder with Mairead Maguire of Peace People, a pacifist movement that played a critical role in promoting the peace process and the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland.
Contact: Salah Mohsen, Adalah Media Coordinator, salah@adalah.org, mobile: 052-595-0922
Case citation: Administrative Petition Appeal 70220/10, Maguire v. Interior Ministry, et al. (Supreme Court, case pending)
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Background on Ms. Mairead Maguire
Ms. Mairead Maguire was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976 for her extraordinary actions to end the sectarian violence in her native Northern Ireland. She shares the award with Betty Williams. In the 30 years since receiving the award, Mairead has dedicated her life to promoting peace, both in Northern Ireland and around the world. Her message is that nonviolence is the only way to achieve a peaceful and just society. Ms. Maguire works with inter-church and inter-faith organizations and is a member of the International Peace Council. She is a Patron of the Methodist Theological College, and the author of “The Vision of Peace: Faith and Hope in Northern Ireland,” published by Orbis Books.
Most recently, in June 2010, Ms. Maguire and members of the Free Gaza Movement set sail on the 'Rachel Corrie Cargo Boat' to help break the blockade on Gaza and bring humanitarian aid to the children and people of Gaza. The boat was intercepted in international waters by the Israeli navy, and it was forced to sail to the Israeli port of Ashdod. Ms. Maguire was detained for two days and then deported from Israel.
Background on Israel’s Denial of Entry to Critics of Israeli Policies
This is not the first time that Israel has denied entry to prominent academics and activists who are critical of Israeli policies toward Palestinians. For example, on 16 May 2010, Professor Noam Chomsky was held for several hours at the Allenby Bridge crossing from Jordan to the West Bank, questioned and ultimately denied entry into Israel. The professor, aged 81, was entering the West Bank in order to speak at Birzeit University.
At the order of the Interior Ministry, the Border Police denied Prof. Richard Falk entry to Israel on 14 December 2008. Prof. Falk, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territories was on his way to the West Bank to carry out his official functions. He was deported from Ben-Gurion Airport on 15 December 2008. For more information, see: http://www.adalah.org/eng/pressreleases/pr.php?file=08_12_15