Palestinian prisoners in Ramon jail on hunger strike after repressive acts

[ 10/11/2010 - 11:31 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- Ahrar center for prisoners' studies and human rights said the Palestinian prisoners in Ramon jail went on hunger strike after the Israeli prison administration sent military units to storm some sections and took punitive measures against detainees. Director of the center Fouad Al-Khafsh stated that a large number of heavily armed soldiers from Matsada and Nahshon units broke into section five in the prison and rounded up head of the section Musa Al-Akkari and his deputy Akram Al-Qawasmi after provocatively searching them. Khafsh that the units afterwards transferred Akkari and Qawasmi to section three, while the prison administration imposed on section three what it calls the "behavioral punishment" and closed the section. When Ramon administration uses this kind of punishment, it prevents prisoners from leaving their sections and rooms and turns off electric power. The center director said that the prisoners refused these measures and repressive acts and announced they would go on hunger strike until the prison administration send Akkari and Qawasmi back to their section and end its behavioral punishment. He added that the real reason behind the prison administration's uproar was a bully Israeli officer inside the prison, where he cursed God in front of prisoners prompting prisoners to file a complaint against him with the administration and warning it that this officer's life would not be safe if he entered the sections again. Ramon prison is located on the Egyptian borders, and considered one of the notorious Israeli prisons in which the administration take severe punitive measures against detainees and deliberately harass them without reason. In another incident, the Palestinian prisoners in all Israeli jails said in a letter sent to the prisoner center for studies by their leadership that the prison administrations are still waging a fierce repressive attack against them. They added in the letter that the prison administrations deprived them of many rights and escalated its restrictions on them, especially regarding solitary conferment and family visits. They affirmed they would not hesitate to go on open hunger strike if the prison administrations persisted in its violations against them. For its part, Wa'ed society for detainees and ex-detainees deplored the Israeli unjust punitive measures taken against senior Hamas official Ra'fat Nasif in prison. Wa'ed warned that the deterioration of Nasif's health after he went on hunger strike in protest at these measures and his detention without guilt would lead to serious consequences in all Israeli jails, especially since Nasif is a popular figure and highly respected by all prisoners. It held the Israeli occupation authority fully responsible for Nasif's life and appealed to international human rights organizations to break their silence on Israel's violations against Palestinian prisoners and urgently intervene to have Nasif released from prison.