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Small Legal Victory for African Asylum Seekers in Israel

[additional-authors]
May 25, 2014

Last Wednesday, May 21st, the Israeli Supreme Court heard an appeal on behalf of Mutasim Ali, the Director of the African Refugee Development Center in Tel Aviv and a representative of the Refugee community in Israel. Ali and his lawyer, Attorney Asaf Weitzen of Hotline for Refugees and Migrants – Israel argued against the process by which the Israel government issues summons to the Holot detention facility in the Negev. After a heated courtroom discussion, the court ruled that African asylum seekers must be given a hearing before being issued summons to Holot, a move optimistically seen as a step toward Israeli recognition of refugee rights.

In a break from the current system, accroding to Attorney Asaf Weitzen, “The court gave the State a final verdict that says that before they can summon someone to Holot, they must give a hearing to individuals. This means they are required to allow individuals to make claims, to bring with them a lawyer, to submit documents, only after that get a decision then it's allowed to attack with administrative practices.”

Added Mutasim, “The court said that there needs to be a hearing before a summons. And that is for everyone, not just to my specific case. In my opinion, this is a big success. We are advancing little by little and there is hope that things will change [for the better].”

Watch the interviews and report in full below: