Ministry of Interior Rescinds Movement Restriction on Abna al-Balad General Secretary

 

On 7 August 2002, the Director of the Ministry of Interior's Population Bureau sent a letter to Adalah in which he announced the cancellation of an order he had issued preventing Mohammed Kannaneh, the General Secretary of the Abna al-Balad Movement, from traveling to Egypt. 

On 11 March 2002, the Director of the Population Bureau issued the order, under the Emergency Regulations (Foreign Travel) (1948) prohibiting Mr. Kannaneh from traveling to Egypt for one year, for "security reasons." In a series of letters sent to the Director over the next several months, Adalah Staff Attorney Orna Kohn argued that the order infringed Mr. Kannaneh's constitutional rights to freedom of movement, freedom of exiting the country, and freedom of speech, as protected by the Israeli Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty. Adalah demanded that the order either be rescinded, or that a hearing be conducted, in which the basis for the order would be explained and the relevant evidence provided.