Israel renews MP's administrative detention

An Israeli military court on Tuesday renewed the administrative detention of lawmaker Hassan Yousef for a further six months, his colleagues told Ma'an. Yousef, an MP for the Hamas-affiliated Change and Reform Bloc, was detained on Nov. 1, 2011 with his son from his home in Beituniya, near Ramallah. Ofer military court renewed his detention without charge for the second time on Tuesday, the Islamic deputies office said. Yousef left jail in August in a move which saw Israel release 770 Israeli and Palestinian detainees. He was sentenced to a six-year term for "membership of a terrorist organization," and freed after two years in jail. Over 300 Palestinians are held in administrative detention in Israeli prisons, using laws dating back to the British Mandate period. Some 27 Palestinian lawmakers are in jail, 24 of them held without charge, according to latest figures from prisoners group Addameer.