JERUSALEM: Israel has expelled Salah Hamouri, a French-Palestinian lawyer, on Sunday morning, announced the Interior Ministry.
Hamouri had been detained without any charge since March this year.
Hamouri, 37, had been held under administrative detention — a controversial practice — under which suspects are allowed to be detained for renewable periods of up to 6 months. Hamouri was deported Sunday morning to France following Interior Minister’s decision to withdraw his residency status, said the ministry in a statement.
Israel expels French Lawyer over being alleged member of PFLP
Hamouri who holds French citizenship had been accused of being a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine by the Israeli military. It is to mention here that the United States, Israel, and the European Union consider it a “terrorist group”. The group has been implicated in several fatal attacks on Israelis.
Hamouri denied involvement with the group and pleaded his innocence in the cases including the one in which he was convicted by an Israeli court on charges of plotting to assassinate a prominent rabbi and spiritual leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shas political party, Ovadia Yosef. Hamouri was released in December 2011 under a prisoner swap with Gaza.
Hamouri does not have Israeli nationality though he was born in Jerusalem. However, he held a residency permit that the Israeli authorities revoked. Last month, Hamouri was informed that he was facing deportation. But his deportation was delayed as his lawyers contested the case. Earlier in December, Israel confirmed the revocation of his residency which also paved the way for his imminent deportation despite a new hearing scheduled for January 1, 2023. — AFP/APP
