A statement from the ministry said guards initiated the searches after midnight, entered cells, hit prisoners with sticks and launched tear-gas canisters inside cells, causing injuries to several detainees.
"The prison guards allege that they are looking for cell phones, but they are carrying out these raids to humiliate the detainees," the statement said.
One detainee from Tulkarem, identified as Musa Khouli, was quoted in the statement, saying the number of night raids has increased recently inside the Megido prison, and added that on some occasions the troops bring dogs in to sniff out the cells.
Megido was not the only prison where cell raids were conducted at midnight, the statement added, quoting a detainee identified as Hani Yousef Abul Sba, incarcerated at Israel's Ofer Prison, who said guards there had also recently begun night raids.
Tens of Palestinian prisoners hurt in jailors' attack |
| [ 06/07/2010 - 09:16 AM ] |
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OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Tens of Palestinian prisoners in the Megiddo jail were hurt on Monday night when Israeli members of the Nahshon unit, used to quell prisoners, broke into their cells. Megiddo prison sources said that dozens of the Nahshon unit launched a large-scale inspection inside the minors' wards at the pretext of searching for mobile phones. They added that the soldiers claimed that cell phones were found in those wards, which made them assault prisoners leading to violent confrontations during which the soldiers used teargas and savagely beat up the minors. Prisoners in other wards declared a state of alert after what happened, prompting the prison administration to force them out of prison yards and to deploy more troops. The Palestinian prisoner's society asked the Red Cross to send a special committee to Megiddo instantly to get first hand information on what happened to the prisoners especially the minors. The society expressed concern over the fate of prisoners especially minors, some of whom suffered breathing difficulties and injuries as a result of the beatings. |
