Paris, November 15, 2001

Object: Lift of Mr. Bishara Parliamentary Immunity

Mr Chairman,

The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) is composed of 115 member organizations in 90 countries, among which two Israeli members (ACRI and B'tselem), and two Palestinian members (PCHR and LAW). The FIDH is extremely concerned about the Knesset vote the 7 of November to lift Mr. Azmi Bishara's parliamentary immunity.

This is a precedent-setting vote, as it marks the first time the Knesset has decided to lift a deputy's immunity because of remarks he made.
The FIDH considers that Mr. Bishara was publicly defending the political stance on the basis of which he was elected, and that the appropriate arena to address this issue is therefore the public and political sphere, and not through criminal proceedings.

The FIDH is also extremely concerned to see that Mr. Bishara, who had called upon the Arab countries to "strengthen their support to the Palestinian struggle against the Israeli occupation", and who had considered the Hezbollah as a "resistance group", and organized a visit in Damascus to enable Arab Israeli families to see their relatives in Syria, is facing prosecution, five days after the lift of his parliamentary immunity, on charges of supporting a "terrorist organization" and arranging illegal visits by Israeli citizens to an "enemy country".

The FIDH calls upon the Israeli authorities to reestablish the parliamentary immunity of Mr. Bishara. Additionally, the FIDH would like to draw your attention to the conclusions and recommendations of its report on " The Status of Israeli Citizens" in which we observed that Israeli Arab citizens suffer from many discriminations in contradiction with the international commitments taken by the State of Israel, and in particular the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the International Convention against Racial Discrimination.

Yours Sincerely,

Sidiki Kaba
President

CC: Mr. Ariel Sharon, Prime Minister of Israel