Palestinian peace activist Rami Aman. Photo: UN Watch.

A coalition of 70 NGOs lodged a legal complaint with the United Nations on Wednesday against the ongoing detention of a Palestinian peace activist by the ruling Hamas terrorist group in the Gaza Strip.

Rami Aman has been in detention since being arrested by Hamas enforcers two days after he organized an April 6 conference call on Zoom that involved more than 200 Palestinian and Israeli activists.

Among those who denounced Aman online was Hind Khoudary, who at the time of the incident identified herself on social media as an international research consultant for the human rights organization Amnesty International. Khoudary tagged three Hamas officials in a vituperative Facebook post targeting Aman.

The arrest of Aman and seven other Palestinians was subsequently announced on Facebook by Hamas Interior Ministry spokesman Iyad El-Bozom, who accused the activists of “holding a normalization activity with the Israeli occupation.”

The NGO legal complaint to the UN’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, an independent tribunal of five experts, was submitted by UN Watch — a Geneva-based international human rights organization — which is heading up the initiative.

The UN experts’ rulings are not legally binding, but are cited by judges worldwide and can exert pressure on governments to release those imprisoned without due process.

“Hamas’s arbitrary and unlawful arrest and detention of Mr. Aman for the crime of ‘normalization’ is part of a pattern of repression and intimidation against dissidents who dare to speak out against the authoritarian regime,” said Hillel Neuer — director of UN Watch — in a statement.

“Our complaint seeks to hold Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, which claims jurisdiction in Gaza, accountable for the wrongful imprisonment of Mr. Aman, a violation of international law and of his universal human rights,” Neuer said.