Release conscientious objector Mattan Helman
Use this form to send the letter below to the relevant authority (Minister of Defence Avigdor Lieberman). You can add your own notes in a separate box after the standard text, if you wish. You must include a name, address, and email address; a copy will be sent to you with a cc to the WRI office (so we have a record of how many email letters have been sent out for this particular case).
Dear Avigdor Lieberman,
Mattan Helman has been imprisoned for his refusal to join the Israeli military. Mattan refuses to enlist in the Israeli Army based on beliefs and conscience. He claims his human right to conscientious objection, as guaranteed by Article 18 of the ICCPR. In a decision from January 2007, the United Nations Human Rights Committee recognised 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.
This is Mattan's third imprisonment. Repeated imprisonment is a violation of international legal standards. 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.
I urge you to immediately release Mattan Helman, all other conscientious objectors, and ensure that he is not re-imprisoned in future.
Yours sincerely,
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