Ghoul: Isolating prisoners aim at pressuring resistance in swap deal

[ 06/04/2009 - 10:31 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- The minister of prisoners' affairs in the PA government in Gaza, Mohammed Al-Ghoul, has lashed out at the Israeli prisons authority for isolating Hamas and Islamic Jihad prisoners in preparation for imposing stricter measures against them.

Ghoul described the IPA's measure in a statement to Al-Bayan website on Sunday as "racist, fascist and inhuman".

He charged that the measure was in violation of international agreements and the fourth Geneva Convention.

The "racist measure" would not weaken the prisoners' determination but would rather increase their insistence on their rights, the minister said and called for the trial of Israeli occupation authority officials for their crimes against prisoners in particular and the Palestinian people in general.

He opined that the measure is aimed at pressuring Palestinian resistance to compromise on the prisoners' exchange deal, adding that the captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit would remain in captivity until all resistance demands are met regarding the release of Palestinian prisoners.