Ghoul asks Red Cross to end its silence on Israel's violations against prisoners

[ 25/07/2010 - 04:14 PM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- Palestinian minister of prisoners' affairs Faraj Al-Ghoul deplored in a letter he handed to director of the Red Cross office in Gaza Stephane Beytrison the international agency's silence towards Israel's violations against the Palestinian prisoners in its jails. Ghoul explained in his letter the deteriorating incarceration conditions which the Palestinian prisoners are experiencing in Israeli jails, especially after Israel created the Shalit law which deprived them of their basic rights. The minister also criticized Catherine Ashton, the European Union's representative for foreign affairs, who demanded the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit with nothing in exchange and ignored 7,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israel's jails deprived of their right to life and freedom. "It is no longer acceptable for us to hear flimsy excuses, especially after the occupation unveiled its true face when it dealt with the prisoners through imposing the Shalit law," he told Beytrison. The Red Cross director, for his part, promised to study the appeals mentioned in the letter and pressure Israel to improve the imprisonment conditions of prisoners in its jails.