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Palestinian human rights lawyer deported to France

ISRAEL deported a Palestinian human rights lawyer and activist to France today, claiming he has ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

The French government had repeatedly objected to the expulsion of Salah Hamouri, who is a Palestinian-French national.

Mr Hamouri has denied ties to the PFLP, which Israel labels as a terrorist organisation, and was imprisoned under “administrative detention” since March.

He has worked as a lawyer for Adameer, a rights group that helps Palestinian prisoners that Israel recently banned.

Mr Hamouri previously spent seven years in prison after being convicted in an alleged plot to kill a prominent rabbi and politician but was released in 2011.

And he was among six rights activists whose phones were discovered to have been infected by Israeli spyware last year.

The French Foreign Ministry condemned Mr Hamouri’s deportation after he landed in Paris.

The ministry said it has “taken full action, including at the highest level of the state, to ensure that Mr Hamouri’s rights are respected, that he benefits from all legal remedies and that he can lead a normal life in Jerusalem, where he was born, resides and wishes to live.”

A January 1 hearing had been scheduled for Mr Hamouri’s case, and it was not immediately clear how Israel was able to push ahead with the deportation.

Israeli human rights group HaMoked, which had defended Mr Hamouri, also condemned the expulsion.

“Deporting a Palestinian from their homeland for breach of allegiance to the state of Israel is a dangerous precedent and a gross violation of basic rights,” said group director Jessica Montell. “HaMoked will continue to fight against this unconstitutional law.”

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