Nafha prisoners go on warning hunger strike

[ 24/10/2010 - 04:00 PM ]

RAMALLAH / JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Inmates in the Israeli Nafha prison went on a warning hunger strike on Saturday for one day in cooperation with all of the political persuasions in the prison, rights groups in Palestine said. Sources said the strike was in protest of recent recurring night raids carried out by the prison administration on prisoners’ cells and the prison’s solitary confinement policy, and  to improve poor jail conditions. The Prisoners’ Supporters organization quoted one prison leader there as saying that the strike was a warning message to the general directorate of the prison to change its policies against prisoners, stop abuse, and improve conditions. “The conditions in the prisons are in a state of turmoil… The Palestinian community must move with its political and social components to stand by its war prisoners,” said Ramzi Al Najjar, vice president of the Prisoners' Supporters organization. In other developments, Sunday marks nine years of detention for Ibtesam Mohammed Issawi, the Tadhamon (Solidarity) Foundation for Human Rights said. Tadhamon researcher Ahmed Al Beitawi said Isssawi was taken by police from her home in Jebel Al Mobakkir near Jerusalem on Oct. 24, 2001 and was then transferred to several interrogation centers before being sentenced to 15 years in prison on charges of resisting Israeli occupation. Issawi’s parents are living in Jordan and have been prohibited from visiting her since the first day of her detention. The Israeli prison authority has denied several requests by her to talk to her parents on the phone. Issawi, who languishes in the Damon prison, is a wife and mother of six children. Three women from Jerusalem remain in Israeli jails. They have been identified as: Sina Mohammed Shahada, who is serving 3 life sentences and 30 years, Nada Ata Dirbas, who faces 6 years, and Sabirin Ismail Meshaal.