IPA holds Hamas leader in isolation, 47 sick detainees in Ohalei Kedar

[ 13/09/2009 - 10:38 AM ]

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The Israeli prisons authority (IPA) is holding Hamas leader Sheikh Jamal Abul Haija in an isolation cell in Rimon prison in a new penal measure against him following months of isolation in Galbo'a prison. The IPA also deprived Abul Haija from visitation, relatives of the detained leader said, adding that the step was "unjustified" especially when Rimon isolation wards were the worst among all Israeli prisons. They said that Abul Haija had spent the last few years in solitary confinement with no other justification than the IPA insistence on isolating him from other detainees. The IPA step is further aimed to break the determination of Abul Haija, the relatives charged. Sheikh Abul Haija, one of the prominent Hamas leaders in the West Bank, was sentenced to nine life sentences for resisting occupation forces during the Israeli invasion of Jenin refugee camp. Meanwhile, the Palestinian prisoner's club said that the IPA was holding 47 Palestinian sick prisoners in the Ohalei Kedar detention center. The club director Qaddoura Fares on Saturday said in a statement that the IPA transfers sick internees to the center as if it was a hospital. He noted, however, that detainees in the detention center suffer from crammed cells and poor ventilation as all windows are closed in the morning. Fares said that the prisoners also suffer from shortages in medicine, detergents and clothes.