Palestinian prisoners suffer amid medical neglect

[ 23/04/2011 - 09:48 AM ]

RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- Wajdi Jodeh, a Palestinian prisoner in the Israeli Shata prison has been suffering from a skin allergy, but the prison has so far done nothing to treat him, the Mandela prisoner affairs group said on Friday. Mohammed Jibran, another Shata prisoner, has been placed in solitary confinement for the past three years and has undergone continued torture after allegedly hitting a policeman, the Mandela Foundation in Palestine reported. The foundation emphasized the need for the medical attention of Ahmed al-Tamimi, who has been suffering for the past eight months from an acute fever and infection. After suffering from complications he was transferred to the hospital and tested, but he has yet to be informed of the results. On Thursday, detainees in the Israeli Jalama prison went on hunger strike as they protested the policy of isolation practiced against them. The prisoner committee said the prison banned its lawyer from visiting several prisoners there. It also informed him that there was a strike. It said that some of the prisoners have been in isolation for four months after conclusion of their interrogation.

Israeli interrogators question Jihad prisoners

[ 23/04/2011 - 08:22 AM ]

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Israeli interrogators summoned and questioned a number of Islamic Jihad prisoners in occupation jails over connection to the issue of the lawyers charged with passing information from Jihad prisoners to their leadership and vice versa. The Palestinian center for prisoners' studies, in a statement on Friday, quoted Palestinian prisoners in Nafha as saying that four prisoners were summoned and interrogated over the issue, adding that they denied any relations with the lawyers. It said, however, that the prisoners were denied lawyers' visit after the questioning. The director of the center Ra'fat Hamdona described the Israeli step of denying lawyers' visits as very serious, calling for filing a lawsuit against Israel and its prisons service at international courts for denying basic rights of those prisoners. The Israeli police had detained four Palestinian lawyers from the 1948 occupied land on Wednesday over suspicion of passing information between Jihad leaders and those prisoners and between Jihad prisoners in various Israeli jails.

Israeli court imposes house arrest on two Jerusalemite children

[ 23/04/2011 - 07:34 AM ]

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The Israeli magistrate court in occupied Jerusalem imposed house arrest on two Palestinian minors at the pretext of attacking Jewish settlers' houses. The court sentenced Ibrahim Siyam, 15, and Yazan Siyam, 16, to one week house arrest in their homes in Silwan town south of the Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem. It also ordered their families to escort them to and from school for five days after the conclusion of the house arrest. Local sources said that the children were detained and questioned over the past two days before they appeared in the court hearing on Friday.

Lawyer Essawi freed along with her two brothers from Israeli jails

[ 22/04/2011 - 02:52 PM ]

Palestinian lawyer Shirin Essawi entering the Maskoubeyya interrogation center last year

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation authorities has released Thursday Palestinian lawyer Sherien Essawi and her two brothers from jail after the Israeli prosecution failed to prove any charges against them. The IOA charged the three siblings with passing Hamas money to Palestinian prisoners from the Gaza Strip who were denied family visits for years now. The Israeli central court decided to release the three Palestinians after their lawyer filed a petition urging their immediate release after the prosecutor failed to prove the charges against them despite the passage of one year since they were arrested.

Palestinian captive placed into solitary because he asked to be treated as a POW

[ 22/04/2011 - 11:54 AM ]

RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation has punished Palestinian captive Kifah Muhammad al-Hattab at Nafha desert prison by transferring him to solitary confinement because he asked to be treated like a prisoner of war. The Nafha prison administration transferred Hattab to  solitary cell when he protested the way he was being treated and told the administration that they should comply with the third and fourth Geneva conventions relating to the treatment of POWs. The captive who is serving his eighth year declared his rejection of Zionist prison laws which contradict the rules of how POWs.

Israel: Lawyers passed letters to Islamic Jihad

 Maan

JERUSALEM (AFP) -- Four Palestinian-Israeli lawyers have been arrested over allegations they passed letters from Palestinians in Israeli jails to the Islamic Jihad movement in Gaza, a police spokesman said Wednesday.

"An Arab-Israeli lawyer, a resident of Acre, is suspected of having collected letters from Palestinian prisoners held in Israel, who she was authorized to visit, and then giving them to three of her colleagues, who are also Arab-Israelis," spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.

"They then passed these letters to Islamic Jihad in Gaza using an as intermediary the Mahajat Al-Quds organization, which was designated illegal in 2006," he added.

Israel considers the Islamic Jihad movement a terrorist organization.

"Documents supporting the allegations were found during searches at the homes of the four lawyers, and all are accused of links with a terrorist organization and corruption, for having received large sums of money" in exchange for passing along the letters, Rosenfeld said.

He did not identify the lawyers, but Israel's Haaretz newspaper named the female lawyer from Acre as 42-year-old Suhir Ayub.

Israel's Palestinian community numbers 1.3 million, about 20 percent of the population. It is made up of the 160,000 Palestinians who remained in Israel after its 1948 establishment, and their descendants.

---------

IOA claims arrest of 4 lawyers passing information to Islamic Jihad prisoners

[ 20/04/2011 - 02:03 PM ]

NAZARETH, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) said it arrested four Palestinian lawyers from the 1948 occupied lands on allegation of transferring information between prisoners in Israeli jails and leaders from the Islamic Jihad Movement in the Gaza Strip. Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper on Wednesday said an indictment was filed with the central court in occupied Jerusalem against lawyer Suhair Ayoub for passing information on to Islamic Jihad prisoners from their leaders in Gaza and vice versa. The newspaper added that lawyer Ayoub has been detained until all legal proceedings against her end and the other three lawyers were released with restrictions. It claimed that Ayoub was passing messages about appointments within the ranks of Islamic Jihad prisoners, their incarceration conditions, and their activities in prison.

Detainee released after 3 years in prison

RAMALLAH (Ma’an) -- The Detainees Center in Ramallah reported Wednesday that Israel's prison administration released a man from Nablus after the end of his three-year term.

Baker Bilal, 46, was detained in May 2008, the center said, noting that he had reported being tortured for a period of two months.

Three of Bilal's brothers are also being held by Israeli forces, two serving 15-year sentences. His brother's wife, Nelly Safadi, is also detained at the Hasharon prison.

Protesters demand Palestinian prisoner release at Brussels European Commission

[ 20/04/2011 - 08:07 AM ]

BRUSSELS, (PIC)-- Men and women from human rights groups in France, Germany, Belgium and Norway wore blindfolds and trapped themselves in barbed wire while others waved Palestinian flags, Israel-condemning banners and prisoner photographs, as they peacefully demonstrated in front of the European Commission in the Belgium capital Brussels. With involvement from more than 17 rights groups marking Palestinian Prisoner Day, the protests demanded that the world intervene against the Israeli policies of administrative detention without trial under claims of ”secret files” and the arrest of members of the Palestinian Legislative Council and other public figures. Palestinian prisoners have been subjected to torture, women in particular, and have faced harassment and physical and psychological torture, humiliation, degrading searches, assault and more, said European activist Luke Verwet. The activists highlighted the violations committed by the Israeli prison authority and the widely effected area, saying that most Palestinians in the West Bank had experienced detention. They also made it a focus that 676 prisoners from the Gaza Strip have been banned from family visits. According to statistics offered by the world movement for the defense of children, Israel is currently detaining 221 minors between the ages of 12 and 18. 75 other children are on house arrest despite their young age, a phenomon unknown to the rest of the world, Verwet said as he spoke during the events. Ten per cent of prisoners have been placed in administrative detention, Verwet said, elaborating that those men and women are usually held without charges for six months for alleged security purposes before their terms in administrative detention are extended.

Israel claims arresting Australian working for Hamas

[ 20/04/2011 - 07:41 AM ]

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Israeli security apparatuses apprehended an Australian national of Saudi origin at the Ben Gurion airport on suspicion of espionage. The Israeli Channel 2 said that the Australian citizen, Iyad Rashid Abu Arja, was indicted on Tuesday evening for being a member of Hamas and entering Israel "on a mission for the Islamic militant group". The report said Abu Arja was trained in Syria and was sent to Israel by Hamas on a spying mission. "According to police investigators, Arja has a background in computers, and apparently he was asked to aid in acquiring various technological devices for the purposes of encryption, photography, and guiding missiles", the report added. Israel holds Australian accused of Hamas ties   Published yesterday (updated) 21/04/2011 14:35   JERUSALEM (AFP) -- Israel has charged a Palestinian-born dual Australian-Jordanian citizen with links to Hamas, after arresting the man as he tried to enter the country through Ben Gurion airport. The arrest was made nearly a month ago, and the man appeared before a district court on Sunday, but his indictment was only made public on Tuesday. A copy of the charges obtained by AFP named the man as Eyad Rashid Abu Arja, born in 1964 in the northern West Bank, and said he was detained on March 24. He has been charged with "belonging to an illegal organization" and "activities on behalf of an illegal organization," in this case Hamas, which is considered a terrorist group under Israeli law. Arja's Israeli lawyer, Leah Tsemel, said her client had "not effectively spied" for Hamas, despite allegations that he attempted to gather equipment and information for the group. The indictment, which is based on Arja's confession, alleges that he had been in touch with the group since making contact with a Hamas cell during a trip to Syria in 2008. Arja, a computer scientist, allegedly also received training on the use of automatic weapons during the trip, the indictment said. Between 2009 and 2010, a Palestinian living in Saudi Arabia allegedly asked Arja "for his help in obtaining encrypted telephones and panoramic photo equipment, as well as technology for guiding missiles." After expressing his intention to visit Israel, he was then tasked with photographing commercial centers, collecting maps and making contact with commercial businesses in Israel, the indictment alleges.

Relatives of prisoners appeal for allowing visits

[ 19/04/2011 - 05:14 PM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- Relatives of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli occupation jails staged a sit-in before the UN offices in Gaza on Tuesday demanding their right to visit their next of kin before their death. The relatives, mostly elderly or sick, expressed hope that they could see their relatives before they die. Gaza minister of prisoners' affairs Dr. Attalla Abulsabh said during a visit to the sit-in rally that the Israeli occupation authority was breakig all international rules. He asked the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, "Isn't it time to say to Israel enough". The minister said that the Palestinian prisoners are not common criminals but rather freedom fighters, who exercised their legitimate right (of resisting occupation). On the same occasion of the prisoner's day, Khaled Al-Batesh, a senior official of the Islamic Jihad movement, said on Tuesday that Palestinian factions are called upon to capture more Israeli soldiers to trade them for Palestinian prisoners. He said that the step should be a priority for all factions especially to free prisoners who spent long years in captivity.

90% of detained Palestinian minors tortured in Israeli jails

[ 19/04/2011 - 05:04 PM ]

RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- The Palestine branch of the international movement for the defense of children said in a statement on Tuesday that 90% of Palestinian minors detained in Israel were tortured one way or another. It said the Israeli occupation forces rounded up 1000 Palestinians less than 18 years old during 2010 mostly in Jerusalem and areas adjacent to the separation wall. It said that by the end of 2010 around 213 of those minors were still in custody and the number increased to 226 by March 2011. The legal coordinator of the movement lawyer Iyad Misk said that 700 Palestinian minors from the West Bank face trials each year at the hands of the Israeli occupation authority after detention and interrogation.

Israeli prison administration forces women prisoners to wear orange costume

[ 19/04/2011 - 02:53 PM ]

RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- The Israeli administraiton of Hasharon jail forced Palestinian women prisoners to wear orange uniforms while heading to courts and confiscated food and covers in their possession. The Palestinian prisoner association said in a statement on Tuesday that the prison administration also prevented the prisoners from taking any papers with them when they meet lawyers even if they were legal papers such as the indictment lists or plain papers and pens. Fawzi Shalloudi, a lawyer with the association, said after visiting those prisoners that the administration had imposed new sanctions on them since Sunday. He added that the sanctions followed the prisoners' step of refusing meals, adding that they included rejecting all requests by the prisoners in the current month of April and reducing the time for their daily stroll outside their cells. The Israeli occupation authority is holding 37 Palestinian women in its jails, 19 in Hasharon and 18 in Damon jail. Female detainees at Hasharon prison 'punished'   Published today (updated) 21/04/2011 13:59   BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) – Lawyer Fawzi Shludi reported Tuesday that the administration at Hasharon prison imposed punishments on female detainees after they refused to eat. Prison staff restricted access to recreation time due to the hunger strike, the attorney said, which is protesting Israeli authorities refusal to allow the women to wear traditional garments in court. The women have been forced to wear orange jumpsuits while in court and are prohibited from holding paper or pens when they meet with their lawyer, according to Shludi.

MP Attoun calls for internationalizing issue of Palestinian prisoners

[ 19/04/2011 - 01:59 PM ]

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Palestinian lawmaker Ahmed Attoun stressed the importance of internationalizing the issue of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and recruiting a galaxy of jurists to take every legal action against Israel for its ongoing violations against them. Attoun, one of three officials taking refuge at the Red Cross headquarters in occupied Jerusalem, stated on Tuesday that many Palestinian prisoners have spent long years of their life in prison and could be considered the world's oldest prisoners who serve such long terms behind bars. The MP criticized the Palestinian authority and its negotiators for ignoring the issue of Palestinian prisoners, saying the PA officials committed a crime against the prisoners when they overlooked their issue and did not give it priority. He pointed out that some sort of Arab and international moves in support of Palestinian prisoners, albeit belated, started to come to the surface lately, but unfortunately they are not yet as strong as the moves in solidarity with the captive Israeli soldier.

Salah said IOF soldiers used 'stupid and racist behavior' during Allenby arrest

[ 19/04/2011 - 11:01 AM ]

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Leader of the Islamic Movement in 1948-occupied Palestine Raed Salah said that Israeli occupation forces soldiers used ”stupid and racist behavior” when they arrested him and his wife at the Allenby Bridge border crossing after they refused to comply with a provocative strip search targeting his wife. The family was returning to the 1948-occupied Palestinian territories after making pilgrimage to Makkah when they were stopped and searched at the bridge linking Jordan and the West Bank. Salah and his wife as well as two other couples were arrested for allegedly obstructing the work of security personnel and were later released on bail. The other two men and women were let go after a few hours. ”This is the first time they tried to search my wife. It was the intent of the police and security men, as every one of them has stated, to ask her to remove her clothing; and naturally, that was absolutely rejected,” Salah said after his release. ”We told them my wife and I will absolutely not allow you to do that, and we will defend our right to defend our honor until the end.” ”Incidents evolved, and I was arrested on charges where I was the victim,” he said. ”My wife was also a victim like me. Then I was taken to the Maskoubia interrogation center after I was detained at the King Hussein Bridge police station.” Salah has filed a complaint that includes three items. The first is directed at the intelligence men who threatened the group. The second is directed at the intelligence officer that used profanity against them. And the third is against the detectives who tried to violate his wife's honor. He said he would follow up on the case until it is finished, even if he had to ”knock on the doors of the international courts”.

The video of the attack at the Ketziot Prison shown in israeli channel 2

English Subtitles -- press CC

Israel's Channel 2 TV station released this video footage showing Palestinian detainees being treated as sub-human by Israeli troops in the regime's desert prison of Naqab (Negev)in 2007.

It shows the incitement of sleeping, unarmed Palestinian prisoners in the middle of the night by Israeli Masada Combats.

The prison commandor ordered this incitement to "increase the morale and motivation" of the regular prison guards.

During this assault by masked Israeli combatants, one Palestinian died and several others sustained injuries.


Watch and know that Israel's nauseating refrain that their police and army are "moral" is a big lie.

Since 1967, approximately 700,000 Palestinians have been arrested and detained under Israeli military orders. This number accounts for close to 20 percent of the population in the occupied Palestinian territories.

On Palestinian Prisoner’s Day; Al Dameer Calls On International Community To Take Serious Action to Release all Palestinian Prisoners Held in Israeli Prisons and Detention Centers

Al Dameer

Reference:23/2011

 

Al Dameer Association for Human Rights expresses its solidarity with Palestinian detainees and their families on the occasion Palestinian Prisoner’s Day. This day 17 April, is commemorated annually in order to remember the suffering of the Palestinian prisoners resulted from the Israeli practices and policies against them. Palestinian Prisoners Day comes at a time when the Israeli authorities are escalating their grave violations of the rules of international humanitarian law (IHL) and International Human Rights Law.

Al Dameer reminds that there are currently around 6000 Palestinian and Arab detainees in more than 28 Israeli jails and detention centers. They are subjected to torture, and cruel and inhuman treatment.

Al Dameer condemns the systematic and continuous inhumane treatment of Palestinian detainees carried out by Israel .The Palestinian prisoners’ rights are violated , they are subjected to Ill-treatment  and poor detention conditions, denying visitation rights,  Medical negligence and denial of healthcare, Torture, and administrative detention. Also, Innumerable prisoners have been subjected to torture and other forms of degrading and cruel treatment during interrogation. IOF subject Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons to numerous instances of torture, and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. Moreover, Israel has placed a total, sweeping ban on visits by the families of prisoners from Gaza since June 2007.  Further, Israeli Authorities categorizes Gazan detainees as ‘unlawful combatants’.

IOF violations of Palestinian prisoners’ rights constitute serious violations of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, the additional protocol of 1977 and all the international conventions and treaties. Palestinian and Arab detainees are subject to degrading treatment in breach of their most basic rights accorded by international humanitarian law (IHL) and human rights standards

Al Dameer Association for Human Rights condemns the systematic and random detention of the Palestinian civilians in the OPT. IOF continues practicing torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment against the Palestinian prisoners and their families.

In the light of the above, Al Dameer expresses its solidarity with Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails and:

1- Calls upon the international community to take effective and urgent action to ensure the release of all Palestinian detainees and to end their sufferings.

2- Calls upon The High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to fulfill their legal obligations, and to exert pressure on Israel to respect IHL and IL. That was in addition to the Israeli obligation to uphold the applicable international standards regarding detention place and fair trial.

End

Palestine Prisoners Day – Narratives Behind Locked Doors

PCHR

Sunday, 17 April 2011 11:30

 Ref: 34/2011

Each year on 17 April, Palestinian Prisoners Day is commemorated in order to support and recognize Palestinians currently in custody in Israel. Since 1979, the date marks the release of Palestinian prisoners by Israel as part of a prisoner swap in 1974. Between 1967 and 1988 more than 600,000 Palestinians were held in Israeli jails for a week or more, constituting approximately 1/5 of the total population. Moreover, from the beginning of the 2000 “Al Aqsa” Second Intifada, Israel detained another 70,000 individuals bringing the total number of Palestinians who have been detained in Israel since 1967 to 760,000. Currently, approximately 6,500 Palestinians are detained in Israel including approximately 251 children and 37 women. These prisoners are held in17 investigation and detention centers and prisons throughout Israel. Additionally, approximately 241 administrative detainees and 14 members of the Palestinian Legislative Council are held in custody by Israel.

PCHR notes with particular concern the many violations of human rights and humanitarian law that prisoners are subjected to while in Israeli detention. In particular violations of Articles 7, 9 and 10 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which Israel is a State Party. Moreover, under Israeli military regulations which are applied in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt), Palestinian children are treated as adults at the age of 16. This is in blatant contravention of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) which states that a child is anyone below 18 years old. Israel is a signatory to the CRC. As a result, Palestinian children are subjected to the same detention regime as adult prisoners.

Prisoners in Israeli custody are often subject to cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment, including poor detention conditions, denial of access to counsel or family visits, deprivation of health care and many other policies that violate human rights law. The UN Committee Against Torture has criticized Israel for failing to undertake credible and effective investigations by Israel into torture-related allegations. Prisoners in administrative detention face the additional burden of not knowing when, or if, they will be released; the Israeli administrative detention law allows for the arrest of persons not charged with committing a crime and their detention for renewable 6 month terms.

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights’ (PCHR) notes with concern that none of the approximately 700 Gazans in Israeli jails have been allowed to receive visitors for nearly four years. Not only are these prisoners denied visits but they are also denied phone calls or mail from relatives. Only occasionally and sporadically are these prisoners allowed to communicate through letters. The blanket prohibition of family visits exacerbates the already difficult conditions of confinement and constitutes a violation of international human rights law.  

PCHR commemorates Palestinian Prisoners day with the release of nine narratives collected from family members of prisoners. These narratives highlight the unnecessary hardship on both the prisoners and their families.

Narratives Behind Locked Doors:

· The Transformation of Palestinian Prisoners' Visitation Rights over the Years

· Arwa Abdel-Rahim, a Mother of two Prisoners

· Abla Sa'adat: A husband imprisoned

· Trying to See Her Brother - The Struggle of the Family of a Prisoner from the West Bank

· No Family Visitation for Prisoners from Gaza: the Case of Abdallah Inshahsi

· Family Visits Denied - the Mother of a Prisoner from Gaza tells her Story

· Fairouz Afaf: A Former Prisoner Discusses Israeli Prison Conditions in the 1970s

· Restrictive Family Visitation Rights for West Bank Prisoners- the Case of Amal Fayez Juma'a

· The Mother of a Minor in Prison - Amal Abdul-Allah

Palestinian Prisoners Day Al Mezan Calls for Efforts to Confront Israeli Violations against Palestinian Prisoners, Improve Detention Conditions, and Secure their Release

 Al Mezan

17-4-2011

43/2011

Sunday 17 April 2011 marks the Palestinian Prisoners Day. It presents an occasion to remember the conditions of thousands of Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons; deprived of their freedom as a result of their involvement in the struggle for self-determination. Today, there thousands of Palestinians held by Israel. They represent a small portion of the hundreds of thousands of Palestinian women, children, and men, who were detained, tortured and abused by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) since the start of the Israeli occupation of the occupied Palestinian territory in 1967. 

According to the estimations of the expert on Palestinian prisoners’ issues, Mr. Abdel Nasser Ferwana, there are approximately 6,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees held in Israeli prisons and detention centers currently. Of those, 245 are children, 37 women, 180 administrative detainees, and three held as 'unlawful combatants'. Since June 1967, over 750,000 Palestinians were detained by Israel.

This year, Palestinian Prisoners Day comes at a time when the Israeli authorities are escalating their violations of international humanitarian law (IHL) and human rights law; including the rules regarding the treatment of persons deprived of their liberty. The Israeli authorities have continued to sanction arbitrary measures against Palestinian prisoners and detainees, particularly those from the Gaza Strip who are deprived from receiving family visits for the fifth consecutive years.

Moreover, in May 2010, the Israeli security cabinet approved the 'Shalit Law” bill, which imposes harsher measures on the conditions of detention for Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons. The new law deprives detainees from visits by lawyers and families and limits the visits by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to one every three months. It also deprives detainees of their right to pursue their education in prison and prohibits them from watching TV, reading books and newspapers, and using canteen services. Under this law, Palestinian detainees are subject to unlimited periods of solitary confinement as a punishment procedure. The Israeli Prisons Administration (IPA) also deprives Palestinians detainees from access to adequate medical services. Detainees are provided with poor quality meals, which are insufficient in quantity. The ISA also fails to meet its obligation to provide adequate clothing and cleaning materials for several years.

The Israeli law provides protection for Israeli Security Agency (ISA) investigators who are involved in the practice of torture and/or abuse of Palestinian detainees. Israel’s General Security Service Law, (of the year 2000), grants ISA personnel de jure immunity for acts in the course of service as long as they acted 'reasonably and in good faith',[1] allows torturers to resort to what is called ‘necessity defence’. In addition, Israeli law exempts the police from recording interrogation sessions with the Palestinian detainees.[2] However, police are obliged to record interrogations with Israeli prisoners.

Al Mezan Center for Human Rights asserts its resolve intention to continue to defend Palestinian political prisoners and detainees, to expose the violations perpetrated against their rights and work towards securing their liberty.

Al Mezan notes that the efforts of human rights organizations cannot be expected to bear fruit unless Palestinian political unity is restored; the issue of Palestinian prisoners and detainees held by Israel is prioritized; and Arab and international efforts are taken to exert pressure on Israel to respect its obligations and end the systematic violations of the relevant rules and standards of international law.

In this context, Al Mezan reiterates its call on civil society organizations, local and international human rights organizations, and political parties to take serious action towards exposing IOF violations of the rules of international law; including enforcement of laws and military orders allowing for holding Palestinians under the 'Unlawful Combatants Law' and administrative detention, which constitute grave violations of the relevant international standards. Action must also be taken to ensure IOF respect of the relevant obligations; including providing for the needs of prisoners and detainees; such as healthcare, family visits and contact with the outside world. Palestinians must be protected from torture and abuse. Moreover, efforts must be doubled to secure the release of children, women and those detained without charge or trial, as a first step towards releasing of all Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons and detention centers.

End

On Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, Palestinian Human Rights Organizations Call for Renewed Efforts to Release All Prisoners

Ramallah, 17 April 2011 – Every year, Palestinian Prisoners’ Day provides an opportunity to reflect on the continuing incarceration and ill-treatment of Palestinians who have been detained, sometimes without charge or trial, for their resistance to the Israeli occupation and its illegal policies and practices.

Although the total number of political prisoners held in Israeli prisons has decreased again this year from over 6,600 in April 2010 to 5,716, this overall amelioration conceals some troubling trends and as such should not be interpreted as an indicator of improved Israeli policies. Particularly worrying is the fact that although Israel’s practice of administrative detention is widely recognized as violating international human rights and humanitarian law and has been repeatedly condemned by Palestinian human rights organizations and members of the international community alike, 218 Palestinians remain in this form of detention without charge or trial, only 19 fewer than a year ago. Moreover, Israel continues to hold Palestinians from Gaza under the Unlawful Combatants Law, whose implementation results in grave violations of international law.

Furthermore, this year Palestinian Prisoners’ Day comes in the midst of a wave of mass and arbitrary arrests by the Israeli Occupying Forces (IOF) in the village of Awarta, following the murders of 5 family members in the nearby settlement of Itamar on 11 March 2011. So far more than 500 men, women and children have been rounded up, taken for questioning and asked to sign statements in Hebrew, a language they do not understand. While most villagers were released within hours of their arrest, 50 still remain in detention without charges, including two children. These arrests demonstrate Israel’s alarming continuing willingness to resort to disproportionate measures targeting an entire community, echoing its detention practices during the first and second intifada.

Israel also persists in its attempts to undermine the Palestinian civil resistance movement and deter activism against the Wall and settlements by targeting movement leaders, as well as children from the villages engaged in these kinds of popular struggle. Children have increasingly become the target of arrests in occupied East Jerusalem too, particularly in neighborhoods like Silwan and Issawiya, which have emerged as focal points of tension as Israel continues to escalate its policies of repression, Judaization and settlement expansion in the city.

Finally, Israel continues to sanction the torture of Palestinian prisoners by allowing for unrecorded interrogations and affording interrogators involved in torture impunity under Israeli law. Moreover, despite the existence of a complaint mechanism for victims of torture, the Israeli authorities have systematically failed to open criminal investigations into these cases, thus furthering the prevailing culture of impunity.

Despite the slight decrease in the number of political prisoners held by Israel, attention to their cause should not wane. Instead, the illegitimacy of Israel’s detention policies, the gravity of the manifold violations that prisoners and detainees are subjected to and the extent of Israel’s impunity in this regard should be exposed afresh to spur renewed and more effective action. As Palestinian human rights organizations, we stand in solidarity with the Palestinian political prisoners and detainees currently in Israeli jails and their families, and urge all members of the international community, including civil society, national governments, the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross, to seize Prisoners’ Day as an opportunity to redouble their efforts in the pursuit of the immediate and unconditional release of all Palestinian political prisoners.

* * *

·         Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association

·         Aldameer Association for Human Rights

·         Al-Haq

·         Al Mezan Center for Human Rights

·         Badil Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights

·         The Civic Coalition for Defending Palestinians’ Rights in Jerusalem

·         Defence for Children International - Palestine Section

·         Ensan Center for Human Rights and Democracy

·         Jerusalem Center for Legal Aid and Human Rights

·         Palestinian Centre for Human Rights

·         Ramallah Center for Human Rights Studies

·         Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling

The International Campaign Publishes the Israeli Violation in the Palestinian Prisoner Day

The International Campaign/ Special 

17/4/2011

The International Campaign for Releasing the Abducted MPs publishes the Israeli violation against the MPs since the last April in the Palestinian Prisoner Day.

It asserted that the past year witnesses series of violation against the MPs and their families. It added “the occupation is still refusing the results of the Palestinian democratic elections and doing all efforts to cancel the transparent results"

Policy of Re-abduction

The campaign pointed out that the occupation had re-abducted nine of the Change and Reform Bloc MPs and transferred them to the administrative detention who are “ Hatem Qefisha, Mahmoud El Ramahi, Nayef Rojoob, Muhammad El Tal, Khalil El Rabaie, Omer Abdel Razek, Muhammad El Natsha, Azam Salhab, and Muhammad Badr”

Breaking into Houses

The campaign added “  the scene of breaking into houses before abduction is repeated with the nine MPs in addition of breaking into the house of  MP Muhammad Abu Jihesha  and the MP threatened to be deported, Ahmad Atoun, for two times”

Abduction of Relatives

The campaign stated that the occupation practices all methods of repression  against the MPs and their families as it abducted 7 members of their families who are ( son of Abu Jihesha, son of Omer Abdel Razeq, nephew of Atoun, son of Halayqa, son of El Ramahi, and brother of Qifesha)"

Deprivation from Performing El Haj

The campaign added that “ the occupation does not stop violating the personal human rights of the MPs. For example, the occupation deprived ( MP. Abdel Rahman Zeidan, Muhammad El Tal and Muhammad Abu Jihesha and Samir El Qadi) from performing pilgrimage last year.

From Abduction to Deportation

The campaign continued publishing the most serious violation committed by the Israeli occupation which is issuing the decision of deportation against the Jerusalemite MPs  ( Muhammad Abu Teer, Muhammad Totah, and Ahmad Atoun) and the former minister, Khalid Abu Arafah, after their release from the Israeli jails.

he campaign mentioned that the occupation had abducted MP. Muhammad Abu Teer on 30th of June,2010 from his house then he was deported to the West Bank on 8th of December,2010.  Atoun, Totah and Abu Arafah resorted to the headquarter of the Red Cross for refusing the unjust decision of deportation since 1st of July,2010 till this moment.

The campaign warned from the Israeli schemas targeting to evacuate the city from their citizens starting with the symbols of the Palestinian people

Calling for Urgent Steps

The International Campaign called the (parliamentary, legal and human rights) International institutions to hold their responsibilities in defending the human rights and the principles of democracy and to try the Israeli criminals who violate the norms of the International law and Forth Geneva Convention."

Prisoners at Risk Campaign

April 16th, 2011

Prisoners at Risk Campaign

On Palestinian prisoners day, 17 April 2011, Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association launched its new campaign, Prisoners at Risk, which will raise awareness of specific cases of Palestinian political prisoners whose detention by Israel presents serious dangers. The campaign will begin with a demand to free Ayed Dudeen, who has been held by Israel without charge or trial since October 2007, making him the currently longest held administrative detainee.
Take action on behalf of the Prisoners at Risk by joining our campaign!

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Prisoners at Risk: Addameer launches new campaign on Palestinian Prisoners’ Day

April 16th, 2011

Ramallah, 17 April 2011
Today, Addameer marks Palestinian Prisoners’ Day by officially launching its new campaign, Prisoners at Risk, which will raise awareness of specific cases of Palestinian political prisoners whose detention presents serious dangers. The campaign will begin with a demand to free Ayed Dudeen, who has been held by Israel without charge or trial since October 2007, making him the currently longest held administrative detainee.
At present, almost 6,000 Palestinian political prisoners remain in Israeli prisons. While it is impossible to fully document the violations these prisoners have endured, it is vital that the voices of forgotten prisoners are magnified to illustrate the vast range and types of dangers that they are exposed to every day. The Prisoners at Risk campaign aims to highlight those cases that receive little public attention yet raise grave concern and require urgent action. They include prisoners suffering from serious diseases at risk of further deterioration as a consequence of medical neglect; prisoners at risk of indefinitely renewable detention without charge or trial; human rights defenders at risk of repeated arbitrary detention in an effort to quell their non-violent resistance to the Israeli occupation; and prisoners at risk of torture because of their persistent refusal to be silent about their ill-treatment. “This campaign, and its focus on the mobilization of international civil society, is absolutely essential”, says Sahar Francis, director of Addameer, “because the failure of peace talks, including Oslo, to resolve the prisoner issue has amply demonstrated that without intense external pressure, Israel will never abide by international human rights and humanitarian law.” Read the rest of this entry »

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AYED MOHAMMED SALEM DUDEEN

April 16th, 2011

Date of birth: 20 September 1967
Place of residence: Dura village, south of Hebron.
Occupation: Nurse and ambulance officer. Ayed has been the deputy director of the Hebron Palestinian Red Crescent Society’s ambulance and emergency services since 1989.
Marital status: Married and father of six
Place of detention: Ketziot Prison
Postal address: Ketziot Prison, P.O. Box 13, Postal Code: 84102, Israel
Follow Ayed’s detention on Facebook
Date of Arrest: 19 October 2007
Number of detention orders to date: 30
Days spent in detention without charge or trial: 3 years and 180 days
Expected end of current detention order: 11 June 2011

ARREST

Ayed Dudeen was arrested on 19 October 2007 at 2:30 a.m. when Israeli Occupying Forces (IOF) soldiers accompanied by an Israeli intelligence officer raided his family home in Dura village, south of Hebron. The soldiers, who did not present a search or arrest warrant, forced Ayed and his family out of their home and searched it for one hour. They then ordered Ayed to get dressed, shackling and blindfolding him before transferring him to an interrogation center, where he was questioned for six days. Read the rest of this entry »

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Prisoners at Risk campaign’s Activist Toolkit

April 16th, 2011

• Letter to Israeli authorities re Ayed Dudeen (pdf)
• Letter to EU Parliament re Ayed Dudeen (pdf)
• Facebook page for prisoners at risk
• Facebook page for Ayed Dudeen

Children send letters to imprisoned fathers

TUBAS (Ma'an) -- "Father, I miss you so much and it’s been so long and you are away we miss hugging you, we miss the smell of your jacket in the house, and the smell of your cologne. I pray to God that you will be released one day and come back to us. I dream about you often," Ahmad Atef Daraghmeh, 11, wrote.

One of dozens of children from the small municipality of Tubas with a parent incarcerated in an Israeli jail or military detention center, Ahmad joined his peers in the Tubas Prisoners Center on Sunday, the day which is marked as Prisoners Day, and for the first time wrote to his father.

The letters children wrote will be given to lawyers who regularly visit the nearly 30 detention centers where Palestinian prisoners are held, head of the center Mahmoud Issa said.

"These letters give us hope, they remind us of our fathers, brothers, husbands, and they bring to the fore the pain of separation; they make us redouble our efforts to secure their release and bring joy back to Palestinian families," Issa said.

Unless a prisoner release deal is reached, Ahmad's father will remain in the Shata prison for another 15 years to complete his 22-year sentence.

"I promise to always take care of my brothers, I will respect them and be the best at school and make you proud," Ahmad wrote.

The Palestinian Authority estimates that there are 6,000 Palestinians currently in Israeli prison, including 37 women and 245 children. Most are said to be political prisoners, jailed for resisting soldiers carrying out the continued occupation of Palestinian lands.

Since 1967, Israel has detained around 750,000 Palestinians, the PA Ministry for Detainees' Affairs said. Some 70,000 Palestinians have been detained since 2000, the ministry added.

"We will collect as many letters as we can, and we will make sure they are delivered to the prisoners," Issa said.

Sajida Jihad, 12, has not seen her father since he was detained when she was three years old, and could not decide what to write in her letter. She, like Ahmad, told her father she only dreamed of a hug.

"I wish you could be out of Jilboa prison forever, I wish it were you who were here to help me study for my exams, and help me with my papers," Ayat Mustapha, 17, said in her letter.

Military court orders Nabi Saleh protest organizer, Bassem Tamimi, remanded until end of legal proceedings

17 April 2011 | Popular Struggle Coordination Committee

Bassem Tamimi’s political arrest was extended indefinitely by an Israeli military judge today despite problematic evidence. His trial will open on May 8th.
The arrest of Bassem Tamimi, a 44 year-old protest organizer from Nabi Saleh and the coordinator of the village’s popular committee, was extended indefinitely today at the Ofer Military Court. Tamimi will remain in detention until the end of legal proceedings in his case. The indictment against Tamimi, filed two weeks ago, is based on questionable and coerced confessions of youth. He is charged with incitement, organizing un-permitted marches, solicitation to throw stones, disobeying the duty to report to questioning, and a scandalous obstruction of justice charge, for allegedly giving youth advice on how to act under interrogation by the police in the event that they are arrested.
The transcript of Tamimi’s police interrogation further shows the police and Military Prosecution’s political motivation and disregard for suspect’s rights under interrogation. During his questioning, Tamimi was accused by his interrogator of “consulting with lawyers and foreigners to prepare for his interrogation” – no doubt a legal right.
Tamimi’s trial will open on May 8th, when he is expected to plead not guilty to all charges, admit having organized peaceful demonstrations against settlement expansion and argue that it is in fact the Occupation that should be standing trial.
Bassem Tamimi is a veteran Palestinian grassroots activist from the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh, north of Ramallah. He is married to Nariman Tamimi, with whom he fathers four children – Wa’ed (14), Ahed (10), Mohammed (8) and Salam (5).
As a veteran activist, Tamimi have to date been arrested by the Israeli army 11 times and spent prolonged periods in Israeli jails, roughly three years, though he was never convicted of any offense. He spent roughly three years in administrative detentions, with no charges brought up against him, and on so-called secret evidence and suspicions, unknown even to himself or his lawyer.
In 1993, Tamimi was falsely arrested on suspicion of having murdered an Israeli settler in Beit El – an allegation he was cleared of entirely. During his weeks-long interrogation, he was severely tortured by the Israeli Shin Bet in order to draw a coerced confession from him. During his interrogation, and as a result of the torture he underwent, Tamimi collapsed and had to be evacuated to a hospital, where he laid unconscious for seven days.
As one of the organizers of the Nabi Saleh protests and coordinator of the village’s popular committee, Tamimi has been the target of harsh treatment by the Israeli army. Since demonstrations began in the village, his house has been raided and ransacked numerous times, his wife was arrested twice and two of his sons were injured – Wa’ed, 14, was hospitalized for five days after a rubber-coated bullet penetrated his leg and Mohammed, 8, was injured by a tear-gas projectile that was shot directly at him and hit him in the shoulder. Shortly after demonstrations in the village began, the Israeli Civil Administration served ten demolition orders to structures located in Area C, Tamimi’s house was one of them, despite the fact that it was built in 1965 and expended already in the year 2003.
Legal background
On the March 24th, 2011, a massive contingent of Israeli Soldiers raided the Tamimi home at around noon, only minutes after he entered the house to prepare for a meeting with a European diplomat. He was arrested and subsequently charged
The main evidence in Tamimi’s case is the testimony of 14 year-old Islam Dar Ayyoub, also from Nabi Saleh, who was arrested from his bed at gunpoint on the night of January 23rd. In his interrogation the morning after his arrest, Islam alleged that Bassem and Naji Tamimi organized groups of youth into “brigades”, each with its own responsibility during the demonstrations: some are allegedly in charge of stone-throwing, some of blocking roads, etc.
During a trial-within-a-trial procedure in Islam’s trial, motioning for his testimony to be ruled inadmissible, it was proven that his interrogation was fundamentally flawed and violated the rights set forth in the Israeli Youth Law in the following:

• Despite being a minor, he was questioned in the morning following his arrest, without being allowed any sleep.
• He was denied legal consul even while his lawyer was present at the police station.
• He was denied his right to have a parent present during his questioning.
• He was not informed of his right to remain silent, and even told that he is “expected to tell the truth” by his interrogators.
• It was acknowledged by the interrogators that only one of the four interrogators was qualified as a youth interrogator.

While the trial-within-a-trial procedure has not yet reached conclusion, the evidence already revealed has brought the military court to revise its remand decision and order Islam’s release to house arrest. The military prosecution appealed this decision, and a ruling by the Military Court of Appeals is expected any day now.
Over the past two months, the army has arrested 24 of Nabi Saleh’s residents on protest related suspicions. Half of those arrested are minors, the youngest of whom merely eleven.
Ever since the beginning of the village’s struggle against settler takeover of their lands, in December of 2009, the army has conducted 71 arrests related to protest in the village. As the entire village numbers just over 500 residents, the number constitutes a gross 10% of its population.
Tamimi’s arrest last night corresponds to the systematic arrest of protest leaders all around the West Bank, as in the case of the villages of Bil’in and Ni’ilin.
Only recently the Military Court of Appeals has aggravated the sentence of Abdallah Abu Rahmah from the village of Bil’in, sending him to 16 months imprisonment on charges of incitement and organizing illegal demonstrations. Abu Rahmah was released last week.
The arrest and trial of Abu Rahmah has been widely condemned by the international community, most notably by Britain and EU foreign minister, Catherin Ashton. Harsh criticism of the arrest has also been offered by leading human rights organizations in Israel and around the world, among them B’tselem, ACRI, as well as Human Rights Watch, which declared Abu Rahmah’s trial unfair, and Amnesty International, which declared Abu Rahmah a prisoner of conscience.

Updated on April 17, 2011

Sheikh Salah detained at Allenby

[ 18/04/2011 - 09:05 AM ]

UMM AL-FAHM, (PIC)-- Israel occupation force (IOF) soldiers rearrested Islamic Movement chief Raed Salah Sunday evening at the Jericho crossing on charges of obstructing the work of Israeli security personnel. According to sources in the Islamic Movement in 1948-occupied Palestine, the IOF soldiers arrested Salah along with Suleiman Ighbarya, who heads the Isra development and relief organization, Jamal Rashid, who chairs a Jerusalem reconstruction organization, and the wives of all three men while the group was on a return trip from Makkah after performing 'umrah', the minor pilgrimage in Islam. The group was released after a few hours, but Salah and his wife were kept in custody. Ighbarya said Salah and his wife were provoked by the soldiers when they entered the crossing as his wife was subjected to a ”humiliating strip search”. Salah intervened to defend his wife who refused to be strip searched, and he condemned the treatment used against his wife. The occupation forces then proceeded to arrest both Salah and wife alleging that they obstructed the work of security personnel, Ighbarya added. Ighbarya suspected that the arrest was pre-arranged, as the Israeli occupation officers videotaped the entire incident from the moment Salah entered the crossing, an unprecedented measure taken against those returning from umrah. Sheikh Salah detained at Allenby   Published yesterday (updated) 17/04/2011 22:13   TEL AVIV (Ma'an) -- Head of the Islamic Movement in Israsel Sheikh Raed Salah was detained by Israeli officials at the Allenby Bridge border crossing as prepared to cross into Jordan. According to a report from the Jerusalem Post, Salah was detained because he refused to submit to investigations and searches that border staff at the crossing intended to carry out. Police told the Post that Salah arrived at the border crossing with his wife and refused a search of his wife, standing between police and his spouse to prevent it. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP that Salah was arrested at the crossing after an altercation in which he allegedly struck an interrogator who wanted to question his wife. "He arrived at the Allenby crossing point with his wife, they went through standard security procedures during which his wife was also questioned," Rosenfeld told AFP. "At some point he disagreed with his wife being asked further questions during the standard security procedures, and then apparently he struck one of the police officers," he added. "He was immediately questioned at the scene there, and from what I understand he was then taken to Jerusalem for further questioning." Salah, who was planning to cross into Jordan, was the only person involved in the incident, Rosenfeld said. His wife was not arrested. Salah was sentenced to five months in Israeli prison and released in December 2010, on charges of obstructing an Israeli soldier. He was detained in Jerusalem in February, during a visit to a protest tent in the eastern part of the city, where he was showing support for Palestinians evicted from their homes by aggressive settler groups. He was also held after taking part in a Gaza-bound aid flotilla that Israeli naval commandos stormed on May 31 in an operation which left nine Turkish activists dead. The Islamic Movement is tolerated in Israel but is under constant surveillance because of its perceived links with the militant Hamas movement that controls the Gaza Strip, as well as with other Islamist groups worldwide. Israel's Arab community numbers 1.3 million, about 20 percent of the population. It is made up of 160,000 Palestinians who remained in Israel after the 1948 establishment of the Jewish state, and their descendants. AFP contributed to this report