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.