UN Experts Urge Israel to Release World Vision Ex-Gaza Chief

Supporters of Mohammed El Halabi in Gaza in 2016. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Supporters of Mohammed El Halabi in Gaza in 2016. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
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UN Experts Urge Israel to Release World Vision Ex-Gaza Chief

Supporters of Mohammed El Halabi in Gaza in 2016. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Supporters of Mohammed El Halabi in Gaza in 2016. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

The conviction and imprisonment of the former Gaza head of a major US-based aid agency violates international law, UN rights experts said Wednesday, demanding that Israel release him immediately.

The four independent experts described the proceedings leading to World Vision's Mohammed al-Halabi's conviction last year as "deeply flawed" and said the verdict and his lengthy prison sentence were "egregious violations of the right to a fair trial".

Halabi was sentenced to 12 years behind bars in August 2022, after being convicted of funnelling millions of dollars and tonnes of steel to Hamas, which controls the Palestinian enclave.

Halabi, who was arrested in June 2016 and indicted in August that year, has denied any irregularities, and an audit ordered by World Vision found no evidence he had diverted any charity funds.

The UN experts, including the Special Rapporteurs on the rights situation in the Palestinian Territory and on protecting human rights while countering terrorism, pointed to "the lack of evidence against him presented in open court".

According to AFP, they also highlighted "the extensive use of secret evidence, closed-door hearings, restricted communication with his lawyer, severe restrictions on the lawyer for the preparation of his defence and the failure to try him without undue delay".

The experts, who are appointed by the UN Human Rights Council but do not speak on behalf of the United Nations, also condemned his treatment during six years of pre-trial detention, including reported solitary confinement and coercion to provide a confession.

He also allegedly faced ill-treatment that could amount to torture, they said, pointing to beatings so severe he lost hearing in one ear.

"By convicting and imprisoning Mr. al-Halabi, Israel has not achieved its purported aim of deterring any act of terrorism," the experts said.

"Instead, by this act, Israel is violating international law and aggravating the coercive environment for Palestinians under occupation, by using 'counter-terrorism' legislation to silence, penalise and punish Palestinians who engage in legitimate human rights and humanitarian work."

The experts added Halabi's appeal hearings had been repeatedly postponed, and Israeli authorities had refused to provide access to files needed to prepare the appeal process.

They said Israel acted with a "blatant disregard for the right to a fair trial, which explicitly guarantees that the accused be tried and heard without undue delays, at all stages of criminal proceedings".

"Such manifestly unfair proceedings may render his detention arbitrary under international human rights law," they said.



Israel Delays Release of Palestinian Prisoners

Family members waiting for the release of Palestinian prisoners follow developments Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025, after receiving news that Israel has delayed the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners scheduled for Saturday, in the West Bank city of Ramallah. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)
Family members waiting for the release of Palestinian prisoners follow developments Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025, after receiving news that Israel has delayed the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners scheduled for Saturday, in the West Bank city of Ramallah. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)
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Israel Delays Release of Palestinian Prisoners

Family members waiting for the release of Palestinian prisoners follow developments Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025, after receiving news that Israel has delayed the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners scheduled for Saturday, in the West Bank city of Ramallah. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)
Family members waiting for the release of Palestinian prisoners follow developments Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025, after receiving news that Israel has delayed the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners scheduled for Saturday, in the West Bank city of Ramallah. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

Israel said early Sunday the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners is delayed “until the release of the next hostages has been assured, and without the humiliating ceremonies” at handovers of Israeli captives in Gaza.

The statement by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office came as military vehicles that normally move in advance of the buses carrying prisoners left the open gates of Ofer prison, only to turn around and go back in.

The release of 620 Palestinian prisoners had been delayed for several hours and was meant to occur just after six Israeli hostages were released on Saturday. It was meant to be the largest one-day prisoner release in the Gaza ceasefire’s first phase.

Israel’s announcement abruptly put the future of the truce into further doubt.
The Palestinian Authority’s commission for prisoners’ affairs confirmed the delay “until further notice.” Associated Press video in the West Bank showed prisoners’ families, waiting outdoors in near-freezing weather, apparently dispersing. One woman was shown walking away in tears.

Five of the six hostages freed Saturday had been escorted by masked, armed militants in front of a crowd — a display that the UN and Red Cross have criticized as cruel after previous handovers.
The Israeli statement cited “ceremonies that demean the dignity of our hostages and the cynical use of the hostages for propaganda purposes.” It was likely a reference to a Hamas video showing two hostages who have yet to be released watching a handover in Gaza on Saturday and speaking under duress.
The six were the last living hostages expected to be freed under the ceasefire's first phase, with a week remaining in the initial stage. Talks on the ceasefire’s second phase are yet to start.
The six included three Israeli men seized from the Nova music festival and another taken while visiting family in southern Israel during the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered the 16-month war in Gaza. The two others were held for a decade after entering Gaza on their own.
Five were handed over in staged ceremonies.

The 620 Palestinian prisoners meant to be freed include 151 serving life or other sentences for attacks against Israelis. Almost 100 would be deported, according to the Palestinian prisoners' media office.
A Palestinian prisoner rights association said they include Nael Barghouti, who spent over 45 years in prison for an attack that killed an Israeli bus driver.
Also meant to be released are 445 men, 23 children aged 15 to 19, and a woman, all seized by Israeli troops in Gaza without charge during the war.