Travel ban against Amnesty campaigner from West Bank
Areeb Ullah MEE 31/10/19
Israel has issued a travel ban against a Palestinian campaigner for Amnesty International amid a growing Israeli crackdown on human rights groups inside the West Bank and Gaza Strip. On 26 October, Israeli authorities stopped Laith Abu Zeyad, Amnesty’s campaigner on Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), from leaving the West Bank to attend a relative’s funeral in Jordan. Zeyad was banned from travelling abroad by Israeli intelligence for “security reasons”, Amnesty said.
In September, he was denied a humanitarian permit to accompany his mother to Jerusalem for cancer treatment also on the grounds of “security reasons” which were not disclosed to him at the time. Kumi Naidoo, secretary-general of Amnesty International, condemned the travel ban and described Israeli authorities’ claim to have security reasons for banning Zeyad as “totally absurd”. “Their failure to provide any details to justify the ban reveals its true intent. This is a sinister move imposed as punishment for his work defending human rights of Palestinians,” Naidoo said in a statement..
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