By Dr. Aaron Lerner
October 14, 2005
The debate over administrative detention pits national security concerns against the rights of people who, while believed to represent serious security threats, for some reason cannot be charged and put on trial.
Under the present system in Israel, those held in administrative detention are not compensated for their loss of freedom -- or even the financial consequences of being unable to go to their workplaces.
As a result, when the State weighs the costs of administrative detention against the benefits in a given case they seriously understate the costs as much of the costs are borne by the person being detained.
The recent court decision to award 100,000 NIS in damages to Noam Federman for falsely placing him under house arrest is a step in the right direction, but hardly enough. At 100,000 NIS for two years that comes to less than $1,000 a month. And, of course, the cost is being imposed after the fact.
Present security conditions may make administrative detention a necessary evil but the introduction of financial "checks and balances" so that administrative detainees -- both Israeli and Palestinian -- are financially compensated for their loss of freedom would go a long way to insuring that security authorities think long and hard before resorting to what should be an exceptional last resort.
Views expressed by the author do not
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