ISRAEL: Four conscientious objectors in prison

ISR11947-11948-11949-11950-250302 25/03/02 14:15

ISR11947-11948-11949-11950-250302
25 March 2002

During last week, four new conscientious objectors were imprisoned in Israel, all of whom are reservists.

Ishai Mor (ISR11947), 34, was sentenced on 20 March to 28 days in prison for refusing to serve in the Gaza Strip. Mor, who serves with the 35th (Paratroops) Brigade, is a programme engineer from Zichon Yaakov, married with two children.

Sergio Yahni (ISR11948) was sentenced on 19 March to 28 days for refusing reserve duty in the Israeli army. Yahni, Co-Director of the Alternative Information Centre, is a longstanding activist with Yesh Gvul who got three prison terms for refusal to serve in the occupied territories during the first intifada. In this instance, he stressed that he refuses to serve in the IDF in any capacity as long as the occupation is in force.

Elad Lahav (ISR11949), 27, of Kibbutz Yad Mordechai, was sentenced on 18 March to 28 days imprisonment for refusing to serve in Hebron. Lahav, married and a computer programmer, declared at his trial: "I refuse to serve in the Occupied Territories, because when my children grow up, I want to be able to look them in the eyes." Lahav is serving his sentence at Military Prison No. 4.

Itai Haviv (ISR11590), 29, has been sentenced to 21 days on 14 March. Haviv, among the first 52 signatories of the recent "Courage to Refuse" declaration, is a tour guide, studying for a masters degree in geology at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem. He is married and the couple are expecting their first child.

War Resisters' International calls for letters of support to all imprisoned conscientious objectors:

Ishai Mor,
Military personal number 4368517
Military Prison 6
Military Postal Number 03734
IDF, Israel

Sergio Yahni
Military personal number 4366865
Military Prison 6
Military Postal Number 03734
IDF, Israel
(you can also send him messages of support through the AIC, at mailto:rtic@alt-info.org or AIC, POB 31417, Jerusalem).

First Serg. Elad Lahav,
Military personal number 5174876
Prison 4
Military Postal code 02507,
IDF,
Israel
(Yesh-Gvul invites adoption groups to take up Lahav's case. Calls can be made to his wife Shelly at ++972-58-349690)

Capt. (res.) Itai Haviv,
Reservists Company,
Prison no. 6,
Military Postal code 03734,
IDF,
Israel

War Resisters' International calls for letters of protest to the Israeli authorities, and Israeli embassies abroad.

Mr. Binyamin Ben-Eliezer,
Minister of Defence,
Ministry of Defence,
37 Kaplan st.,
Tel-Aviv 61909,
Israel.
e-mail: mailto:sar@mod.gov.il
Fax: ++972-3-696-27-57 / ++972-3-691-69-40 / ++972-3-691-79-15

Copies can be sent to the commanders of the prisons at:

Commander of Military Prison No. 6,
Military Prison No. 6,
Military postal number 03734,
IDF
Israel.
Fax: ++972-4-869-28-84

Commander of Military Prison No. 4,
Military Prison No. 4,
Military postal number 02507,
IDF
Israel.
Fax: ++972-3-957-52-76

Another useful address for sending copies would be the Military Attorney General:

Brig. Gen. Menachem Finklestein
Chief Military Attorney
Miltary postal code 9605
IDF
Israel
Fax: ++972-3-569-43-70

War Resisters' International calls for the immediate release of all imprisoned conscientious objectors.

Andreas Speck
War Resisters' International

Addresses of Israeli media:
Ma'ariv:
2 Karlibach st.
Tel-Aviv 67132
Israel
Fax: ++972-3-561-06-14
e-mail: editor@maariv.co.il

Yedioth Aharonoth:
2 Moses st.
Tel-Aviv
Israel
Fax: ++972-3-608-25-46

Ha'aretz (Hebrew):
21 Schocken st.
Tel-Aviv, 61001
Israel
Fax: ++972-3-681-00-12

Ha'aretz (English edition):
21 Schocken st.
Tel-Aviv, 61001
Israel
Fax: ++972-3-512-11-56
e-mail: letters@haaretz.co.il

Jerusalem Post:
POB 81
Jerusalem 91000
Israel
Fax: ++972-2-538-95-27
e-mail: news@jpost.co.il or letters@jpost.co.il

Jerusalem Report:
Fax: ++972-2-537-94-89

Radio (fax numbers):
Kol-Israel ++972-2-531-33-15 and ++972-3-694-47-09 Galei Tzahal ++972-3-512-67-20

Television (fax numbers):
Channel 1 ++972-2-530-15-36
Channel 2 ++972-2-533-98-09