WRI Fax to Jaffa Military Court

Jaffa Military Court
91-93 Yeffet Street
Tel Aviv - Jaffa
Fax: +972-3-512646 -0 /-1

Trial of Uri Ya'acobi, conscientious objector
Military ID 7342725

Dear Judges,

War Resisters' International, the 81 year old network of pacifist organisations with 90 affiliates in 45 countries, is gravely concerned about todays hearing in the court-martial of Uri Ya'acobi. Uri Ya'acobi is a conscientious objector, exercising his human right to conscientious objection as derived from Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, of which Israel is a signatory.

Uri Ya'acobi spent already more than 134 days in Military Prison for his couragious stand, and his insistance on his human right to conscientious objection.

The United Nations Commission on Human Rights stated in its resolution 1998/77, that "States should take the necessary measures to refrain from subjecting conscientious objectors to imprisonment and to repeated punishment for failure to perform military service, and recalls that no one shall be liable or punished again for an offence for which he has already been finally convicted or acquitted in accordance with the law and penal procedure of each country".

Consequently, War Resisters' International urges the Military Court of Jaffa to drop all charges against Uri Ya'acobi, and to order his immediate release from prison.

Kind regards,
(Andreas Speck)
War Resisters' International

PS More information is available on WRI's co-alert list, or WRI's website at http://wri-irg.org/news/alerts