Adalah Secures Stay of Deportation for Nobel Peace Prize Winner Mairead Maguire following appeal to Israeli Supreme Court

Central District Court Will Conduct Full Hearing on Friday 1 October 2010, 11:00AM – Maguire Remains in Detention

(Haifa, Israel) Just after midnight on Wednesday 29 September 2010, Israeli Supreme Court Justice Hayut issued a temporary injunction preventing the deportation of Nobel Peace Prize winner Ms. Mairead Maguire without a hearing. Justice Hayut ordered the Central District Administrative Court in Petah Tikvah to hold an immediate hearing with regard to Ms. Maguire's deportation. At the hearing this afternoon, the Central District Court extended the injunction and scheduled a hearing on the merits at 11:00AM Friday 1 October 2010.  Meanwhile, Ms. Maguire will remain in detention at Ben-Gurion International Airport.

Ms. Maguire, together with Nobel Peace Laureate Jody Williams, is a founder of the Nobel Women's Initiative, and was set to lead a one-week delegation to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) to highlight the work of women peace builders. (http://www.nobelwomensinitiative.org/)

Ms. Maguire, from Ireland, was detained at Ben-Gurion International Airport yesterday morning, Tuesday 28 September 2010, and denied entry into Israel.  Ms. Maguire refused to board the plane that would deport her back to Ireland and instead, sought to challenge the deportation order through the Israeli courts.

Adalah Attorneys Fatmeh El-Ajou, Orna Kohn and Abeer Baker are representing Ms. Maguire. Yesterday, Adalah submitted a motion to prevent Ms. Maguire's deportation. The Central District Court dismissed Adalah's request on a technicality. Adalah's successful appeal to the Israeli Supreme Court last night resulted in the issuance of an injunction, which was extended until Friday morning when Ms. Maguire's case challenging her deportation will be heard.

Case citation: Administrative Petition 39693-09-10, Maguire v. Interior Ministry (Central District Administrative Court, case pending)

Background on Ms. Mairead Maguire

Ms. Mairead Maguire was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976 for her extraordinary actions to end the sectarian violence in her native Northern Ireland. She shares the award with Betty Williams. In the 30 years since receiving the award, Mairead has dedicated her life to promoting peace, both in Northern Ireland and around the world.  Her message is that nonviolence is the only way to achieve a peaceful and just society. Ms. Maguire works with inter-church and inter-faith organizations and is a member of the International Peace Council. She is a Patron of the Methodist Theological College, and the author of “The Vision of Peace: Faith and Hope in Northern Ireland,” published by Orbis Books.

Most recently, in June 2010, Ms. Maguire and members of the Free Gaza Movement set sail on the 'Rachel Corrie Cargo Boat' to help break the blockade on Gaza and bring humanitarian aid to the children and people of Gaza. The boat was intercepted in international waters by the Israeli navy, and it was forced to sail to the Israeli port of Ashdod. Ms. Maguire was detained for two days and then deported from Israel.

Background on Israel's Denial of Entry to Critics of Israeli Policies

This is not the first time that Israel has denied entry to prominent academics and activists who are critical of Israeli policies toward Palestinians. For example, on 16 May 2010, Professor Noam Chomsky was held for several hours at the Allenby Bridge crossing from Jordan to the West Bank, questioned and ultimately denied entry into Israel. The professor, aged 81, was entering the West Bank in order to speak at Birzeit University.

At the order of the Interior Ministry, the Border Police denied Prof. Richard Falk entry to Israel on 14 December 2008. Prof. Falk, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territories was on his way to the West Bank to carry out his official functions. He was deported from Ben-Gurion Airport on 15 December 2008. For more information, see: http://www.adalah.org/eng/pressreleases/pr.php?file=08_12_15