Adalah Demands that the Israel Prison Service Commissioner Rescind his Order Denying Prisoners their Right to take Matriculation Examinations

On Monday 28 June 2004, Adalah wrote to the Israel Prison Service (IPS) Commissioner, demanding that he rescind a recently issued order, which denies all prisoners classified as security prisoners in the 1967 Occupied Territories their right to take the Palestinian Authority matriculation exams. As was reported in the media, the IPS Commissioner's order came after one of the examiners attempted to smuggle a cellular phone to one of the security-classified prisoners. In response to this incident, the IPS Commissioner imposed a collective punishment against all of the prisoners. It subsequently came to light that the order only affects security-classified prisoners in Nafha prison.

As Adalah staff attorney Abeer Baker argued in the letter, the IPS Commissoner's order, which is tantamount to collective punishment against security-classified prisoners, is completely illegal, since the principle of punishing the perpetrator of a crime is the foundation of criminal law. In this case, the prisoners affected by the order did not commit any crime or misdemeanor. Moreover, the order denies these prisoners their basic right to education and, because any order which denies basic rights must be based on primary legislation, the IPS Commissioner's order is thereby unlawful. Adalah also argued that the IPS Commissioner does not have the authority to issue such an order, nor to punish any prisoner for infractions committed by other prisoners, much less for the action of someone who is not a prisoner.

Adalah's letter further stressed that, by denying the prisoners in question their basic right to education, through preventing them from taking the Palestinian Authority matriculation exams, the IPS Commissioner's order will severely impact upon their lives, as it prevents them from enrolling in institutions of higher education in order to study, and also because it reduces their chances for early release from prison, as well as their future employment opportunities and chances for successfully reintegration into society. Furthermore, not allowing the prisoners to take the Palestinian Authority matriculation exams will result in the twelve years of education which they have previously completed going unrecognized. Adalah further stressed that the order gravely infringes the prisoners' rights to personal freedom, self-autonomy and dignity.