Adalah and Haifa University Prisoners’ Rights Clinic: State Prosecutor is Systematically Violating the Rights of Prisoners to Fair Trial Procedures

On 23 August 2009, Adalah in cooperation with the Prisoners’ Rights and Rehabilitation Clinic at the University of Haifa sent a letter to the Minister of Justice , the Attorney General and the State Prosecutor, alleging ongoing violations of the right of prisoners incarcerated in Israeli prisoners to fair and just trial procedures in their petitions against the Israel Prison Service (IPS).

In the letter, Attorney Abeer Baker states that during her work at Adalah and the Prisoners’ Rights and Rehabilitation Clinic she has received dozens of letters from prisoners that reveal the systematic violation and disdain of the State Prosecutor in dealing with petitions filed by the prisoners serving their sentences. By filing the petitions, the prisoners in general aim to improve the conditions of their confinement and remove restrictions imposed on them by the IPS.

Adalah argued in the letter that the most significant violations of the right to a fair trial is the failure of the State Prosecutor’s Office to submit timely responses to the petitions; in many cases, the responses are filed just before they enter the courtroom. In such cases, prisoners are unable to study the response adequately before the hearing or to seek appropriate legal consultation, which is critical since most of the prisoners petition the court alone and not through a lawyer. Prisoners who do not have a good grasp of Hebrew frequently have to go to court without having read the response to their petition. In such cases, they are faced with two choices: either to proceed without having studied the response, or to protest to the court, knowing that the most that he or she can expect to achieve is a postponement of the hearing.

The cases also reveal that the courts and the State Prosecutor’s Office do not inform prisoners of developments in their cases or of the requests made by the State Prosecutor, such as requests for delays in submitting responses to petitions or for postponements of hearings. This situation leaves prisoners in a constant state of uncertainty regarding the status of their cases.

These violations are part of a series of restrictions imposed by the IPS. For instance, the IPS compels prisoners to submit six copies of their petitions, a demand that is difficult to comply with given the unavailability of printing or photocopying equipment. Some prisons also prevent prisoners from making more than one demand in each petition, and from submitting joint petitions, even when prisoners experience the same problem. Prisons frequently transfer prisoners’ petitions to the courts late, despite a law stipulating that they do so without delay.

Attorney Abeer Baker argued that the fact that the petitioner is a prisoner should have no bearing on the constitutional rights that are granted. The State Prosecutor is therefore obliged to provide information to the petitioning prisoner about all developments related to his case, and to submit his response to the petition a significant time prior to the date of the court hearing, as he does in other cases. Failing to follow these procedures strips the principle of a fair trial and fair trial procedures of all content and flagrantly violates prisoners’ human and constitutional rights.

Attorney Baker therefore demanded that the State Prosecutor be compelled to provide a response to petitions filed by prisoners and the various demands contained therein at least seven days prior to the date of the court hearing, to allow them to read and study it. She further demanded that the State Prosecutor inform prisoners of all legal developments related to their cases.