Release conscientious objector Atalya Ben-Abba
Use this form to send the letter below to the relevant authority (Minister of Defence Avigdor Lieberman). You can add your own notes in a separate box after the standard text, if you wish. You must include a name, address, and email address; a copy will be sent to you with a cc to the WRI office (so we have a record of how many email letters have been sent out for this particular case).
Dear Avigdor Lieberman,
Atalya Ben-Abba has been imprisoned for her refusal to join the Israeli military.
Atalya Ben-Abba refuses to enlist in the Israeli Army based on beliefs and conscience. She claims her human right to conscientious objection, as guaranteed by Article 18 of the ICCPR. In a decision from January 2007, the United Nations Human Rights Committee recognised the right to conscientious objection as a legitimate exercise of the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, as guaranteed by Article 18 ICCPR.
This is Atalya's third imprisonment. Repeated imprisonment is a violation of international legal standards. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in opinion 24/2003 on Israel came to the conclusion that the repeated imprisonment of conscientious objectors in Israel is arbitrary, and therefore it constitutes a violation of 14 par 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, of which Israel is a signatory.
I urge you to immediately release Atalya Ben-Abba and all other conscientious objectors, and ensure they are not re-imprisoned in future.
Yours sincerely,
- Sign and send this protest email