Prisoners’ Society reports on worsening conditions in Israeli prison, including being closed in box

20.05.09 - 10:57

Ramallah / PNN – Conditions for the approximately 11,000 Palestinians in Israeli prisons are known to be subhuman in many cases and in contravention to international human rights standards.

The Palestinian Prisoners’ Society reports on just one case of the current situation in Jalame interrogation facility.

Extended periods of isolation in closed boxes described as being “like graves” is the latest torture to befall Palestinian political prisoners. The Israeli administration admits to a policy of torture to extract confessions and to keep control, despite campaigns by international and local prisoners’ and human rights organizations.

The PPS in the West Bank reports the conditions of political prisoners confined in Jalame are “very bad,” saying, “Detention is a threat to their lives with the continuing policies of torture and long periods of isolation in closed boxes akin to graves.”

Based on the testimonies of many of the prisoners recently released, Israeli investigators and the prison management has held at least 15 people captive in these cells as a form of psychological pressure to extract confessions, real or created.

“There are no legal regulations being referred to as all ban this inhuman act. Most in the isolated cells have completed their 40-day periods of investigation but are still isolated from the outside world without any regard to their health, psychological or physical,” reports the Prisoners’ Society.

In solitary confinement meals are restricted and cigarettes unavailable. Using a bathroom is rare and the negative affects on mental and emotional health are prevalent, say PPS staff. “The risk of death is high due to continued daily torture.”

International and human rights organizations are asked to immediately and urgently intervene to release these people from isolation in order to save their lives.

Between 40 and 90 Palestinians are currently held in the Jalame interrogation center in the northern West Bank’s Jenin Governorate within an Israeli army camp called Kishon.

The Palestinian Prisoners’ Society reports that roughly 85 percent of all Palestinians who have entered there have been subjected to various forms of torture and beatings.