An Israeli occupation magistrate court judge in Jerusalem ruled Tuesday afternoon to extend the detention of Palestinian lawmaker, Ahmed Attoun, till next Monday, his charge was "illegally entering Israel.”
Fadi Qawasmi, one of lawyers representing MP Attoun, said that the charge presented by the Israeli occupation prosecutor against MP Attoun is “entering Israel illegally”. The prosecutor also asked the judge to extend the detention of the MP until the legal procedure is completed. The court was adjourned to give the defence team a chance to study the case against their client.
Qawasmi added that MP Attoun suffered bruises during his violent kidnapping on Monday and that he was taken on Monday evening to the Maskoubeyya clinic, then to Bakour Holim hospital before being returned to the Maskoubeyya detention and interrogation centre.
An Israeli Border Guard unit, dressed as Arabs, kidnapped MP Attoun on Monday from the Red Cross compound.
MP Ahmed Attoun along with MP Ahmed Totah, MP Muhammad Abu Teir and former PA Minister Khaled Abu Arafeh, who are politicians affiliated with Hamas's Change and reform bloc, were arrested in 2006 after Hamas won the PA elections by a landslide majority. After three years in detention, the Israeli occupation authorities released them, but stripped them of their right to live in their home town, Jerusalem. The arrested Abu Teir and deported him to Ramallah. The three others held a sit-in at the Red Cross compound in Jerusalem for the past 450 days.
