Birth: NULL/NULL/1953 Death:NULL/NULL/NULL
Born in Gaza on 31 Dec. 1953; schooled in Gaza and Bethlehem, then one year in London; studied Law in Beirut and Alexandria; completed his studies in Egypt with a Law degree from Alexandria University in 1977; obtained his legal license after a year and worked as a lawyer/advocate in his private law office in Gaza since; was arrested in 1979 by Israel under charges of membership in the PFLP and sentenced to three years of imprisonment until Sept. 1982; upon release started to focus his work on military courts and security cases; was arrested as a result in 1985 and put under six months administrative detention; was released in March 1986 but with heavy restrictions on efforts to defend human rights imposed by the Israeli military; was an outspoken advocate of human and legal rights during the first Intifada, for which he was repeatedly arrested; while detained, was subjected to torture; founding Board Member of the Arab Studies Society in Jerusalem since 1988; was prevented from leaving the Gaza Strip from 1977-1990 by the Israeli authorities; was a Visiting Scholar at the Center for the Study of Human Rights at Columbia University, USA, during 1990-91 and 1993; received the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Award for Human Rights (jointly with Israeli lawyer Avigdor Feldmann) in 1991; served as Director of the Gaza Center for Rights and Law from May 1991 until April 1995, when he was dismissed by the Center’s Board of Trustees for criticizing the PA; became a member of the Independent Election Commission and assisted in the preparation of the draft Palestinian election law during 1994-95; received the France Republic Human Rights Award in 1995; was repeatedly arrested by the PA in 1995 for his criticism of the establishment of State Security Courts in Gaza and Jericho; co-founded the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) in Gaza the same year; serves as Board Member of many Palestinian and International organizations, incl. the Palestinian Human Rights Information Center (PHRIC) (since 1987), the Arab Organization for Human Rights in Cairo (since 1997), the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, International Service for Human Rights, the Committee for the Defense of the Child, and of Miftah, and is a member of the Palestinian Constitutional Consultative Committee; serves as Vice-Pres. of the International Federations of Human Rights Leagues since 2000; received the Bruno Kreisky Prize for Outstanding Achievements in the Area of Human Rights in 2002, together with Israeli journalist Amira Hass; was a member of the Palestinian National Commission for Reform from 2003 but resigned in 2005 after not having been able to attend meetings due to Israeli-imposed movement restrictions; was awarded the 2003 International Service Human Rights Award in London; has been elected as a Commissioner of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) during the 2003 elections held in Geneva; has lectured across the USA, Europe and Austral-Asia on the topic of rule of law and human rights; among the many hundreds of conferences participated in have been the World Social Forum in Brazil and the UN Durban Conference Against Racism where he was a leading member of the outspoken critics of Zionism.
