Israel has deported French-Palestinian human rights lawyer Salah Hamouri to France accusing him of security offences.
Israel revoked Hamouri’s residency on December 1 on charges that he was active in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, classified by Israel and its Western allies as a terror group.
He was most recently detained by Israel under administrative detention without charge on March 7 until December 1.
Hamouri holds citizenship in France through his mother.
France’s foreign ministry denounced his deportation and said that the French government had actively sought to defend his rights and had been in contact with Israeli authorities multiple times.
“We condemn the Israeli authorities’ decision against the law to deport Salah Hamouri to France,” the ministry said in a statement.
Hamouri was previously convicted by Israel of attempting to assassinate Sephardi rabbi Ovadia Yossef, the founder of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, but he has always maintained his innocence.
“During his life he organized, inspired and planned to commit terror attacks on his own and for the organization against citizens and well-known Israelis,” a statement from the Israeli interior ministry said.
Hamouri’s supporters said the deportation constituted a breach of international law.
“Wherever a Palestinian goes, he takes with him these principles and the cause of his people: his homeland carried with him to wherever he ends up,” Hamouri said in a statement.
Hamouri, 37, a lifelong Jerusalem resident, was one of 1,027 prisoners Israel freed in 2011 in exchange for soldier Gilad Shalit, who was held captive by Hamas in the Gaza Strip for more than five years.
(Reuters)