Since he joined Amnesty International’s Jerusalem regional office in 2017, our friend and colleague Laith has taken enormous risks to protect the rights of others.
In 2019, we discovered that Israel banned Laith from travelling abroad for unknown ‘security reasons’. We believe that Israel is punishing him for his human rights work. Laith’s case reflects the wider pattern of attacks against human rights defenders in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) and it is another chilling signal of Israel’s growing intolerance of critical voices.
For Palestinians living in the OPT, a travel ban means being completely trapped indefinitely, with no way to leave.
Laith is a brave human rights defender who has dedicated his time and effort to support those in need, now we need to help him. With enough pressure, we hope that we can get the Israeli authorities to lift the arbitrary ban before a court hearing on 31 May. We don’t have a lot of time, and every single action counts.
