Palestinian refugee detained in France 'at Israel's request'

A Palestinian man who was granted asylum in France has been detained in French prisons for over a year and a half "at Israel's request" and has reportedly had his refugee status revoked, according to a group advocating on his behalf.

According to the Free Ali (Liberez Ali) group, the man - known only as Ali - has been held in pre-trial detention in France since his arrest in May 2024 "because the Israeli authorities forwarded charges against [him] to the French authorities".

Ali was expelled from Israel in 2014 after being detained several times without any charges being brought against him. He has lived for nearly a decade in France, where he was granted asylum and refugee status.

In the early morning of 28 May 2024, French police stormed his family home, broke down his apartment door, damaged his partner's car and ransacked the apartment, including the children's bedrooms, according to the Free Ali group.

The Palestinian and his partner were "brutally" arrested in front of their young children. She was held in custody for many hours, during which time the police threatened her with imprisonment and the loss of custody of the children, even though she was not subsequently subjected to any legal proceedings.

Ali, who had no prior convictions or legal disputes in France, was detained under anti-terrorism legislation after several months of surveillance, according to the Free Ali group.

His refugee status was revoked on the grounds that he poses a "threat to national security", although he has not been tried yet and French law guarantees the presumption of innocence.

For the Free Ali group, this is "extremely serious" and "a complete betrayal of all of France's commitments to the protection of refugees".

"By granting refugee status to Ali, France acknowledges that the State of Israel has been persecuting him for a number of years," the group's spokesperson told the alternative outlet Le Media.

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Now, after Israel files accusations against him, "France decides to act on these accusations and criminalise Ali's presence on its territory, even though it had pledged to protect him from that very same state," the spokesperson said.

That France could "renounce this type of commitment based on its ties of complicity, friendship, or proximity with regimes that persecute human beings in their country of origin" is a "worrying precedent", she added.

It is unclear what accusations are being made against Ali.

The Free Ali group "chose not to relay them because this would give a kind of legitimacy to Israel that it does not deserve, in light of current international events, and the numerous accusations against this state before various international law bodies". 

Israel is notably accused of genocide in its war on Gaza before the International Court of Justice, and the International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants against its leaders for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Ali is currently incarcerated at Osny prison in the Val-d'Oise region, near Paris, and was detained for four months in the "radicalisation assessment unit" of the Vendin-le-Vieil prison, a high-security facility that has prompted criticism from the General Controller of Places of Deprivation of Liberty regarding respect for the fundamental rights of detainees.

The Palestinian's initial request for conditional release was denied and his lawyers filed an appeal, but the court ruled that it lacked jurisdiction to hear the case.

'Complicity'

Ali was born in the Balata refugee camp, on the outskirts of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, where his family fled after their forced expulsion from their home city of Jaffa during the Nakba of 1948.

At the age of 14, Ali witnessed the killing of his eight-year-old brother, who was shot in the heart by an Israeli soldier. At 16, he was arrested during an Israeli army raid on his family home. He was held for a year in "administrative detention" - a system Israel uses to indefinitely detain Palestinians without charge or trial - before being sentenced to four years in prison for "stone-throwing".

Ali spent four years in prison, then was jailed three more times without trial or charge for periods of 12, 14 and nine months, according to his campaign group. Each time, he was released without any charges being brought against him.

'These Israeli accusations in France are a direct continuation of the persecution by a colonial state of a Palestinian who... still finds himself persecuted by that state'

- Free Ali group spokesperson

During his third detention, Ali's father died of a stroke after receiving false reports that his son had died in prison. According to the Free Ali group, Israeli authorities deliberately delayed Ali's release to prevent him from attending his father's funeral.

In 2014, Ali was deported by Israel. Two years later, he was arrested in the Italian city of Bari on accusations brought by Israel.

However, the judge ordered his release after several days of detention because the accusations made by Israel were not related to any activities on Italian soil.

He was immediately transferred to a migrant detention centre, where he remained for six months. Thanks to the intervention of lawyers, the Palestinian embassy in Italy and refugee rights groups, the Italian government ordered his release, offering him an apology, refugee status in Italy and financial compensation.

According to his campaign group, Ali refused all of this and decided to leave the country, settling in France, where he held several jobs and started a family.

A few weeks after his detention in France, his partner was diagnosed with a very aggressive cancer that spread rapidly within just a few weeks and was likely triggered by significant stress, her doctor said. She and the children have developed severe forms of anxiety since the police stormed their home and arrested Ali.

The Free Ali group condemned the police raid on their home. "The raid was a political choice. They could have chosen to summon [Ali] to the police station. They could have chosen to protect the children and the family, but they didn't," the spokesperson said.

"We strongly reiterate that these Israeli accusations in France are a direct continuation of the persecution by a colonial state of a Palestinian who, even once expelled far from home and forced into exile, still finds himself persecuted by that state and therefore by the French justice system, which acts as an accomplice to this persecution," she added.

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While the Free Ali group initially did not want to make his situation public in order to ensure the proper legal handling of his case, they decided, after "realising that there was very strong political pressure on the judicial authorities", to alert public opinion by launching an online petition.

In addition to his release, they are asking the French justice system to guarantee his refugee status, without which he would find himself in an irregular situation if he were to be released, and "not to pursue the accusations made against him by [Israel]".

They are also demanding that Ali be protected against any expulsion or extradition plan, at a time when the occupied West Bank is experiencing a surge in raids by the Israeli army and settlers, and when many reports, including from the UN, have denounced the systematic use of torture in Israeli jails and a sharp rise in the number of Palestinian detainees who have died in prison.

An extradition to Israel would be "signing his death warrant, a slow and terrible death in the prisons of the Israeli occupation", the spokesperson said.

The group has also denounced the "criminalising of the presence of Palestinians in European states".

"Unfortunately, Ali's case is not an isolated one. And we see that two main legal frameworks are being used for this criminalisation," the spokesperson said.

"On the one hand, the right to residency, and therefore immigration law, and on the other hand, anti-terrorism legislation. In Ali's case, both laws are being used."