Human rights experts at the United Nations said on Wednesday that the conviction issued by the Israeli judiciary against the former director of the American relief organization "Word Vision" in Gaza and his imprisonment violate international law, calling on the Hebrew state to release him immediately.

The four independent experts described the proceedings that led to the conviction of Muhammad al-Halabi of World Vision last year as “full of flaws,” and said his conviction and long prison sentence were “flagrant violations of the right to a fair trial.”

Al-Halabi was sentenced to 12 years in prison in August 2022, after he was found guilty of transferring millions of dollars and tons of steel to the Islamist movement Hamas, which controls the Palestinian enclave.

Al-Halabi, who was arrested in June 2016 and charged in August of that year, denied any wrongdoing. The review commissioned by World Vision found no evidence that he had used any of the charitable funds for another purpose.

UN experts, including the two special rapporteurs on the situation of rights in the Palestinian territories and on the protection of human rights while countering terrorism, noted "the lack of evidence against him presented in open court."

They also highlighted the "extensive use of secret evidence, closed hearings, restricted access to his lawyers, the severe restrictions placed on a lawyer to prepare his defense, and the failure to try him without undue delay."

These experts, who are appointed by the UN Human Rights Council but do not speak for the UN, also condemned the treatment to which he was subjected during six years of pre-trial detention, including solitary confinement and forced confessions.

They also said that he was subjected to ill-treatment that may amount to torture, noting that he was beaten so severely that he lost hearing in one of his ears.

In convicting and imprisoning al-Halabi, the experts said, Israel has not achieved its purported goal of deterring any terrorist act. Instead, by doing so, Israel is violating international law and exacerbating the coercive environment for Palestinians under occupation, by using 'counter-terrorism' legislation to silence Palestinians who They work in the legitimate field of human rights and humanitarian work, and they will be fined and punished.”

The experts added that the appeal hearings in Al-Halabi's trial were repeatedly postponed, and that the Israeli authorities refused to provide the necessary files to prepare for the appeal.

They said that Israel acted in "flagrant disregard of the right to a fair trial, which expressly guarantees that the accused will be tried and heard without undue delay, at all stages of criminal proceedings."

They added that "such clearly unfair measures may render his detention arbitrary under international human rights law."