Israel holds Palestinian professor despite successful appeal

Ramallah: Israel is keeping a prominent Palestinian academic behind bars despite his successful appeal against detention, a Palestinian NGO told AFP on Sunday.

Astrophysics professor Imad Barghouti, 52, was arrested in April and imprisoned without trial for an initial three months, under an Israeli procedure known as administrative detention.

He is accused of inciting violence against Israel, and Israeli media say he is suspected of ties to the militant Islamist group Hamas.

The Ramallah-based Palestinian Prisoners Club appealed to an Israeli military court to order his release and at a session on Thursday the court ruled that he should be freed on Sunday.

But the military authorities have now asked for him to be kept in Ofer prison, between Jerusalem and Ramallah.

"The (Israeli) occupation prosecutor today accused prisoner Barghouti of incitement to violence and called for his continued detention after a meeting of the intelligence services," a spokesperson for the club said.

Club lawyer Jawad Boulos said it was a "totally absurd" turnaround.

"The prosecutor said on Thursday that after examining the dossier that it would not be possible to file charges because of lack of evidence," Boulos said.

When contacted by AFP, the army had no immediate comment.

Administrative detention allows Israel to hold prisoners without trial for renewable periods of up to six months each.

About 7,000 Palestinians are in Israeli prisons, more than one in 10 in administrative detention.