French-Palestinian lawyer Salah Hamouri expelled by Israel

Israel expelled French-Palestinian lawyer Salah Hamouri on Sunday, the Interior Ministry announced, after he had been detained without charge since March.

Mr Hamouri, 37, had been held under a controversial practice known as administrative detention, which allows suspects to be detained for renewable periods of up to six months.

He “was deported this morning to France following Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked’s decision to withdraw his residency status”, the ministry said.

The Israeli military had accused Mr Hamouri, who holds French citizenship, of being a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

Israel, the US and the EU consider it a “terrorist group” and it has been implicated in several fatal attacks on Israelis.

Mr Hamouri denies involvement with the PFLP and has maintained his innocence in a slew of cases, including when he was tried and convicted by an Israeli court on charges of plotting to assassinate Ovadia Yosef, a prominent rabbi and spiritual leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shas political party.

Mr Hamouri was released in December 2011 as part of a prisoner swap with Gaza. Born in Jerusalem, Hamouri does not have Israeli nationality, but he held a residency permit that Israeli authorities revoked.

Last month, he was informed he would be deported, but the expulsion was delayed as his lawyers contested the case.

Earlier this month, the Israeli authorities confirmed the revocation of his residency, paving the way for his imminent expulsion despite a new hearing scheduled for January 1. AFP