Palestinian Information Center
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March 30, 2010 RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- A Palestinian captive went blind in Israeli occupation jails due to the medical neglect of his case on the part of the Israeli prisons authority (IPA), a released prisoner told the Palestinian center for the defense of prisoners. The center in a statement on Monday said that the captive was primarily diagnosed with spring conjunctivitis but the IPA did not offer him the proper treatment and refused to let a doctor check him, which led to deterioration of his condition few months later at the end of which he lost his eyesight. It warned of the continued IPA deliberate medical neglect of Palestinian prisoners, describing it as "intentional slow death". The center quoted chairperson of the Mandela institution catering for prisoners Buthaina Dukmak as saying that a number of prisoner patients held in Ramle prison hospital were anticipating death as they suffer critical conditions without any proper medical treatment. She said that the Israeli occupation authority (IOA) was incarcerating more than 1,600 sick patients in its jails, adding that they are in dire need of check up by specialized doctors. The center said that the IPA deliberate medical neglect was in violation of international norms and treaties specially the fourth Geneva convention that stipulated among other things a dignified captivity for prisoners. It championed the formation of a regional and international pressure lobby to demand the release of prisoners especially the sick, children and women. Meanwhile, the Palestinian prisoners of all factions agreed on refusing visits during the month of April and on three days of hunger strike, which they specified at 7-17-27 of April. The prisoners said in a statement that the strike is to protest their bad imprisonment conditions, the IPA escalation against them and their relatives on all levels especially preventing family visits, which the Gaza prisoners were deprived of for the past four years. They would also protest the humiliating searches and treatment of relatives when on their way for visits in the West Bank along with banning entry of books, depriving students from accessing Palestinian secondary exams, and barring Al-Jazeera TV network. They said that a number of prisons would go on five days of hunger strike such as the Nafha internees to cope with their special demands. Ra'fat Hamdona, the head of the prisoners' center for studies, urged local and international institutions to launch supportive programs of those prisoners' demands. |
