Israel passes bill to imprison African asylum seekers without trial

English>>World

Editor's Pick

Israel passes bill to imprison African asylum seekers without trial

(Xinhua) 08:24, November 18, 2013

Email|Print|Comments

twitter

facebook

Sina Microblog

JERUSALEM, Nov. 17 -- Israeli cabinet has approved Sunday a new bill allowing Israel to imprison African asylum seekers for up to a year, without a trial.

The 12-to-2 vote, which still needs to be approved by the Knesset (parliament) also allows Israeli authorities to hold asylum seekers as custodians in a so-called "open detention center, " a facility in the Negev desert in southern Israel that will be operated by the Prison Service. Asylum seekers could be held in this facility for up to three years.

The new bill was submitted to the cabinet by the Interior Minister Gideon Sa'ar. Sa'ar was appointed by the government to formulate an amendment to find a new wording the Anti-Infiltration Law, which the Supreme Court invalidated in September as unconstitutional.

The new bill cut the detention time of an asylum seeker from three years to one year.

Sa'ar said that the bill will be brought for the approval of Knesset plenum next week. "In the wake of the Supreme Court ruling, " Sa'ar said, "we are must find new tools for dealing with illegal infiltration to our country." He added that, "We have one country, and we are determined to secure the future of Israel."

According to the Immigration and Population Authority, about 55, 000 African migrants currently live in Israel. More than 90 percent of them are citizens of Eritrea or Sudan.

Last year, former Internal Minister Eli Yishai issued a set of decrees aimed at repatriating African migrants and incarcerating them, charging them of posing a threat to the Jewish character of the country and hurt Israelis' welfare.

The current government is carrying on with the plan. Its moves, along with completing a fence between Egypt and Israel to prevent migrants from entering the country, are made amid growing protest by Israelis living in improvised and poor neighborhoods, mainly in southern Tel Aviv, where a majority of the refugees are stranded in poor conditions.

（Editor：LiangJun、Yao Chun）