Meir Ettinger
Meir EttingerBasel Awidat/Flash 90

Nationalist activist Meir Ettinger was released from administrative detention on Wednesday ending his time in prison which began last August 3 - having spent nearly ten months without trial.

Ettinger, a grandson of former MK Rabbi Meir Kahane, has been held in isolation on administrative orders, a relic from the British Mandate that does not require evidence, trial or charges and can be renewed repeatedly.

Even with his release a series of additional administrative orders have been issued against him, again without any evidence or trial.

The new orders forbid him from entering Judea and Samaria for one year, and likewise ban him from Jerusalem and the town of Yad Binyamin for half a year. He is also forbidden from leaving him home at night for four months, in a form of nighttime house arrest.

Aside from limiting his movements, the orders also ban Ettinger from contacting 92 individuals who were listed in the new administrative order.

“The continued use of administrative orders against Ettinger constitutes an unreasonable infringement on his civil liberties, his dignity, and his family," said Ettinger's lawyer Sima Kochav of the Honenu legal aid organization.

"The persecution of Ettinger is entirely because of his views, a fact that is totally unacceptable. This is a genuine dictatorship that crushes the rights of citizens."

Ettinger has argued that he was abused by prison guards, and back in early April the Israel Prison Service (IPS) controversially refused to let him attend his firstborn son's brit milah (circumcision).