ISRAEL: Conscientious objector Noam Gur sentenced to 10 days' imprisonment

War Resisters' International is concerned about the recent imprisonment of Israeli conscientious objector Noam Gur.

Noam Gur, 18 year old from Kiryat Motzkin near Haifa, arrived in the morning of Monday, 16 April, to the Induction Base in Tel Hashomer, where she declared her refusal to serve in the Israeli Army as it is an occupying force. She was sentenced to 10 days of imprisonment for her refusal.

In her refusal declaration Noam Gur wrote:
"I refuse to join an army that has, since it was established, been engaged in dominating another nation, in plundering and terrorizing a civilian population that is under its control."

The imprisonment of Noam Gur is a violation of article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Israel is a party. 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. The United Nations Human Rights Committee recognised in a decision from January 2007 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. In fact, in this decision on two cases of conscientious objectors from South Korea, the Human Rights Committee stated that not to provide for the right to conscientious objection is a violation of Article 18 ICCPR (see CCPR/C/88/D/1321-1322/2004 from 23 January 2007). The Human Rights Committee since on two occasions decided on further cases on South Korea, with the same result.

It has to be feared that Noam Gur faces repeated imprisonment for her refusal to perform military service.

War Resisters' International calls of letter of support to Noam Gur.
Noam Gur
Military ID 6084062
Military Prison No. 6
Military Postal Code 01860, IDF
Israel
Fax: +972-4-9540580
Since the prison authorities often block mail from reaching imprisoned objectors, we also recommend you to send your letters of support and encouragement via e-mail to: messages2prison@newprofile.org. They will be printed out and delivered during visits.

War Resisters' International calls for letters of protest to the Israeli authorities, and Israeli embassies abroad. An email letter to Israels Minister of Defence Ehud Barak can be sent at http://wri-irg.org/node/15044.

War Resisters' International calls for the immediate release of conscientious objector Noam Gur, and all other imprisoned conscientious objectors.

Andreas Speck
War Resisters' International