The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has called for the immediate release of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, a Palestinian pediatrician and director of Gaza's Kamal Adwan hospital, declaring his detention by Israel as arbitrary. The ruling, issued on Monday, found that Israel's actions violated multiple articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
UN Panel Demands Release and Compensation
The UN panel stated that the appropriate remedy would be to release Abu Safiya immediately and accord him an enforceable right to compensation and other reparations. The case, one of several submitted to the working group, raised broader concerns about a potential widespread or systematic practice of arbitrary detention in Israel.
The Israel Prison Service and the Israeli diplomatic mission in Geneva did not respond to requests for comment. Israel also did not respond to the UN working group when approached about the case in July last year, according to the panel.
Details of Detention and Alleged Abuse
MENA Rights Group, which filed the complaint, reported that Abu Safiya, 52, has been held since December 2024. He has faced repeated solitary confinement, lengthy interrogations, and beatings with batons and electric shock sticks, the group said. His lawyer, Nasser Odeh, warned via a prisoners' group on Monday that his health was in grave danger and that he had been subjected to daily abuse. Video footage from a Supreme Court hearing last month showed him looking visibly thinner.
Steve Cutts, CEO of the charity Medical Aid for Palestinians, stated: "If Dr Abu Safiya dies in that cell, it will be murder, and everyone who had the power to stop it - and did nothing - will be complicit."
Israel's Position and Legal Basis
The Israel Prison Service has previously rejected allegations that Abu Safiya and other doctors have been mistreated. Last month, Israel's Supreme Court rejected an appeal for his release, basing its decision on confidential materials under a law for so-called unlawful combatants, which allows for indefinitely renewable periods of detention.
