Palestinian prisoners in Shata jail attacked by Masada unit

[ 07/07/2010 - 02:20 PM ]

RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- Al-Ahrar center for prisoners' studies and human rights said that an Israeli special unit attacked without prior notice after midnight Tuesday the Palestinian prisoners in Shata jail and went on the rampage in its sections. Director of the center Fouad Al-Khafsh added that the prison administration also deprived the prisoners of family visits for one month and the university students of pursuing their studies for six months. Khafsh pointed out that Israel lately escalated its violations against Palestinian prisoners in an unprecedented way and used the special unit called Masada to suppress Palestinian prisoners in different jails. He added that the Masada unit participated in the deadly attack on the Freedom Flotilla aid convoy and its members are notorious for their sadist behavior and their thirst for blood and violence. In a related incident, the international Tadamun (solidarity) foundation for human rights reported that the administration of Megiddo prison imposed fines on a number of prisoners and took punitive measures against others. A researcher at the foundation Ahmed Al-Beitawi said that the administration forced 20 prisoners to pay a fine of about $120 each and took a number of punitive measures against others such as depriving them of family visits for one month at the pretext of finding two cell phones in their cells. Consequently, dozens of prisoners' families and representatives of human rights institutions rallied outside Megiddo prison in the 1948 occupied lands in protest at the latest arbitrary measures taken against their sons. The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) declared the perimeter of the prison a closed military zone and prevented the protesters from approaching the gate. Protesters made appeals in their speeches for protecting their sons against the escalating Israeli violations committed against them in the jail and held the IOA fully responsible for what is happening inside.