Health minister says prisoners’ lives at risk amid sanctions over hunger strike

[ 09/10/2011 - 06:51 PM ]

GAZA, (PIC)--  Health Minister Bassam Na’im warned the Palestinian captives are in grave danger because of medical neglect inside the Israeli prisons, as the prison administrations have imposed tighter restrictions on the 13th day of hunger strikes including thousands. Speaking at a sit-in outside of the Red Cross in Gaza on Sunday, Na’im said that many of the prisoners suffer from chronic illnesses, such as kidney disease and cancer, and have not received even minimal medical care ensured by the international laws. Na’im added that the strike is the top priority on the agenda of Haneyya’s government “given the threat [the strike] is believed to have on the lives of our captured heroes in light of the Zionist policies of more crackdowns, isolation, and deprivation of their basic rights”. Meanwhile, the International Solidarity Foundation for Human Rights in Nablus said “very concerning results” of the strike were discovered in a visit with isolated prisoners in HaSharon prison. An ISFHR lawyer found in long-awaited interviews with three prisoners that each prisoner lost 12 kg because of going on hunger strike for 13 days. It also came to light that the prisoners, who joined the strike at its onset, were subject to a number of punitive measures, such as fines, restriction of family visits, a five-month ban on canteen, and they were transferred to even smaller prison cells. Moreover, the Ashkelon prison administration had confiscated all salt, which is the only source of food the prisoners have used, as it is needed to preserve the intestines from damage after not eating for long periods. The removal of salt from the prisoners bears very serious implications and has very concerning results, said ISFHR researcher Ahmed al-Beitawi. However, the prisoners said they remained committed to following through with the hunger strike until their demands are met. “Right after hearing that several of our brothers in captivity joined the hunger strike in solidarity with the prisoners in isolation, [we felt it was our duty] as isolated prisoners to be the first to take part in the strike to end our years of ongoing suffering under the ears and eyes of the entire world,” said one of the prisoners Hassan Salama. He added that the prisoners are still in very high spirits despite repressive measures the prison authority has imposed against them, and they are determined to continue the strike.

Update on Palestinian hunger strike and acts of civil disobedience in the Israeli prisons

Addameer

Ramallah 6 October 2011

The hunger strike and acts of civil disobedience originally announced on 27 September amongst Palestinian political prisoners affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine continues to gain momentum, with increasingly oppressive responses from the Israeli authorities.

The majority of the 400 PFLP members who are in prison, along with most prisoners held in southern Israel, have now joined the campaign and are either on open-ended hunger strike or on hunger strike 3 days weeks and participating in other acts of civil disobedience.
In response, the Israeli prison authorities have been transferring hunger strikers to different prisons, and putting them in isolation. Hunger strikers have also been denied salt water, their only source of nourishment. At Ofer prison, 12 hunger strikers have been placed in 2 isolation cells that are only meant to hold 4 people in each, and they have been beaten and forced to walk around the prison compound in the middle of the night in order to exhaust them. At Ashkelon prison, two cells from one of the sections housing long-term prisoners were raided and non-lethal weapons used on the hunger strikers, including Akram Mansour, who has been in prison since 1979 and is suffering from a benign brain tumor.
Lawyer visits to the hunger strikers continue to be difficult. Despite being given permission to visit by the Israeli authorities, lawyers have reported arriving at the prisons and then being turned away due to a ‘situation of emergency’ being announced by the Israeli Prison Service. However, today Addameer lawyer Mahmoud Hassan was able to visit Ahmad Sa’adat – Secretary General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and member of the Palestinian Legislative Council - and Jamal Abu Hija, who are both held at Nafha prison and have both been in long term isolation, since 2009 and 2004 respectively. They reported that they had lost 5 kg since the hunger strike, and were now being denied cigarettes and salt. All electronic items have also been confiscated from their cell, and all that remains are two mattresses and blankets, without pillows. The prison authorities have fined Ahmad Sa’adat 228 shekels as punishment for his hunger strike, and extended his ban on family visits which had been imposed ever since he was in isolation.
Addameer’s lawyers will continue their efforts to visit the hunger strikers and any further information will be published as soon as it is available.

Fatah secretary released after being detained in Silwan

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Fatah secretary Adnan Ghaith was released by Israeli authorities on Thursday, Palestinian security sources said.

Ghaith had been detained by Israeli forces on Wednesday in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan.

The Fatah official was expelled from Jerusalem in January by Israeli authorities and banned from entering the city for eight months. He was arrested hours after returning to Jerusalem.

Israeli authorities fined Ghaith 5,000 shekels and forbid him from entering Silwan for a period of 20 days, security sources told Ma'an.

Israeli court sentences two Jerusalemite minors to jail

[ 08/09/2011 - 08:43 AM ]

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The Israeli central court in occupied Jerusalem sentenced two Palestinian Jerusalemite minors to 15 months behind bars for throwing stones at Israeli vehicles. The court verdict passed on Thursday said that the two minors from Silwan, occupied Jerusalem, threw stones at an Israeli vehicle and injured its passengers. The Israel radio said that the court ruling also ordered the minors to pay 30000 shekels to the injured persons.

Report: Israel arrested 204 Palestinian minors in 2011

[ 05/04/2011 - 12:26 PM ]

RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces have arrested 204 children since the onset of this year, a Palestinian rights group reported. Most of them were beaten or abused during the arrests. The report was issued on Monday, marking Palestinian child day. The report shows that 400 Palestinian minors were arrested in the West Bank last year, with 350 of them still behind bars. It says that 218 Palestinian children sustained injuries that year as IOF soldiers and settlers used bullets and tear gas grenades to attack them. The report expounds that 20 children have been killed by the IOF and Jewish settlers in 2010. It says 1,500 have been killed and at least 5,000 wounded since the Aqsa Mosque intifada. The same year, some 1,000 Palestinians between the ages of 15 and 17 were arrested, with Jerusalem posing as the primary target for arrests, as 500 were taken into custody. Al-Khalil also neared the top the list. Most of those arrested were accused of throwing rocks at Jewish settlers. The vast majority of 95 per cent of all children arrested reported abuse, assaults, torture and humiliation during investigations that had taken place in Israeli settlements. Many said they were pressured and tortured to confess and sign papers in the Hebrew language unreadable to them, and were subsequently prosecuted on this basis. The report says a total of 65 children were placed on house arrest that year in Jerusalem for one to six months after being released from Israeli custody. They were also given hefty fines, and some were banned from attending school or receiving medical services under sentences issued by the Israeli Magistrates Court. Other children were banished from their native home in the Jerusalem district of Silwan and forced to live in other parts of the West Bank. This was the case for 20 children, while others were placed behind bars until their families were able to find suitable homes in other parts of the West Bank to move them to. According to the Palestinian Prisoner Society, Israel had arrested 140 children in Al-Khalil in 2011 and 50 since the beginning of this year.

Father: Israeli authorities sentenced my teens

RAMALLAH (Ma’an) – Palestinian detainees’ center in Ramallah reported that Ofer court sentenced Amir Al-Bastami, 14, and ordered him to pay 2,000 shekels and Mahdi Al-Bastami, 13, ordered to pay 4,000 shekels.

Their father said that his children are innocent and that it is a crime to sentence them considering their young age. The detainees’ center condemned the detention of Palestinian teenagers and rejects the Israeli policy.

The center reported that the number of Palestinian kids detained at Israeli prisons reached 221.

Israeli forces detain dozens of Palestinian workers

[ 05/02/2011 - 10:18 AM ]

NAZARETH, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation forces detained and beat up tens of Palestinian workers over the past couple of days while trying to find jobs in the 1948 occupied Palestinian land, the Palestinian Workers Union said on Friday. PWU added in a statement that the Israeli border police forces launched a campaign of arrests in lines of those workers despite some of them having work permits. It said that Israeli intelligence officers confiscated work permits of some of those workers and prevented them from returning to their work places in 1948 occupied Palestine. The Union warned of Israeli summary trials against those workers, adding that heavy fines were imposed on them.

Palestinian female captive on hunger strike for the third day running

[ 29/10/2010 - 08:54 PM ]

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The Mandela Foundation that caters for Palestinian captives said that Lanan Abu Ghalma who is detained at Hasharon prison has started a hunger strike three days ago to protest the prison's administration refusal to unite her with her sister Tagrid who is detained in another Israeli occupation jail. Head of the foundation, lawyer Buthaina Duqmaq, said in a statement on Friday that Nada Derbas, another Palestinian female captive, went on hunger strike in solidarity with Lanan. Daqmaq further called on local and international human rights organisation to pressure the Israeli occupation to release the two sisters Lanan and Tagrid Abu Ghalma. Lanan was arrested last April and placed under administrative detention and a heavy fine was imposed on her sister Tagrid on top of her detention. Lanan was one of twenty Palestinian female captives freed in October 2009 in return for a two and a half minute video of Gilad Shalit in which he appeared to be fit and well both mentally and physically.

Palestinian prisoners gearing to go on hunger strike

[ 16/10/2010 - 04:52 PM ]

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Palestinian Prisoners Movement leaders called on all concerned parties to gear to join forces with Palestinian prisoners in their next battle with the Israeli prison administration. Prisoners in Israeli detention, writing to the Prisoner Studies Center on Saturday, said they will soon begin an open-ended hunger strike “Irish style”, on water and salt only. The strike, which will be voluntary from beginning to end, will be announced at the moment when one of the top prison leaders will begin by himself to mark the first stage in agreement with all prisoners. Then, 50 prisoners will join the strike during the first weekend. In conjunction with the above mentioned prisoners, other inmates will begin to go on strike with them for one day only. The prisoners said their actions “will pick up in the second week” with 100 other prisoners joining the hunger strike. All prisoners will begin a solidarity strike for one other day to coincide with them. The strike will escalate on the third week when 100 prisoners go on strike with all prisoners striking with them for two consecutive days. In the fourth week, after 21 days of fasting, the door will be open for prisoners to strike how they choose. The Prisoners Center said the strike will go on until all of the demands of the National Prisoners Movement are met. The strike will not end until the entire prisoner dialogue committee meets and forces the prison administration to meet with the committee to consult in one place for an agreement. Prisoner Center director Rafat Hamdouna stressed that the strike is purely to achieve demands and has no political dimensions. The demands, as set out in the letter, are to bring solitary confinement prisoners to the regular wards, to reach a solution for the visits problem and the women and juvenile prisoners issue, to allow prisoners to communicate with their families, to solve health and education issues, and to put an end to searches, torture, and fines.

Israeli court imposes tough conditions for release of female prisoner

[ 30/08/2010 - 02:08 PM ]

NABLUS, (PIC)-- Palestinian human rights sources said that the Israeli military court issued a decision to release female prisoner Tagrid Abu Galmi from Burin village in Nablus city, but on condition that she pays an exorbitant fine and is placed under house arrest. The sources explained that the court imposed on Galmi unattainable conditions represented in paying a fine of 25,000 shekels, putting her under house arrest in her sister's home in the village and going twice a week to Ariel settlement to sign verifying her presence. Activist in prisoners' affairs Mayser Atyani said this court decision is a dangerous precedent and was rejected by Abu Galmi family, adding that the lawyer was told to appeal against this unjust decision, which, if accepted, would contribute to recognizing Israel's arbitrary laws applied against the Palestinian prisoners. She noted that prisoner Abu Galmi was isolated from other Palestinian female prisoners and locked up with Israeli criminals in a section inside Hasharon prison. The activist appealed to the official parties concerned with prisoners' affairs and human rights organizations to send lawyers to visit this prisoner and work on transferring her to sections of Palestinian prisoners in another jail. The activist also pointed out that eight other members of Galmi family are also imprisoned in Israeli jails, including a young woman called Linan Abu Galmi, who was released in October 2009 within a deal that led to the release of 20 women, but she was kidnapped again and administratively detained for an extendable six months.

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.

Israeli police detain dozens of workers, settler runs over three citizens

[ 06/07/2010 - 04:48 PM ]

NAZARETH, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation police detained dozens of Palestinian workers from the West Bank while working in 1948 occupied Palestine. The occupation police rounded up 120 workers in less than a week, the Palestinian prisoner's committee said in a report on Tuesday, adding that ten of them were held for interrogation while the rest were transferred back to the West Bank many of whom after paying fines. Israeli occupation forces (IOF) have rounded up six Palestinians during raids in various West Bank areas at dawn Tuesday, local sources said, adding that they were detained in Tobas, Qalqilia, and Al-Khalil districts. In a separate incident, three Palestinian citizens were moderately wounded Tuesday afternoon after they were hit by a speeding car boarded by an Israeli settler near the settlement of Efrat, south of Bethlehem. Eyewitnesses told the PIC that the injured citizens were taken to a hospital in Al-Khalil, and one of them is still in a coma. Israeli troops and settlers driving cars deliberately run over Palestinians during their presence in the vicinity of settlements or nearby roads.

Presidential guard sentenced to 6 months by Israel

Tubas - Ma'an - Israel's military court in Salem sentenced a Tubas man on charges of resisting the occupation, handing down a six-month sentence and a large fine.

Twenty-one-year-old Thabet Mohammed Jaaysa from the Al-Fara refugee camp works with the Palestinian Authority Presidential Guards, and was detained on 14 April on his way home from work in Ramallah.

The officer was held for two and a half months without charge, and will be transferred from the Salem detention center to Israel's Megido prison where he will serve his sentence. Jaaysa will also be forced to pay a 6,000 shekel fine (1,540 US dollars) before he is released.

Israeli forces arrest Hebron man, release another

Hebron – Ma'an – Israeli authorities arrested a young man from Beit Ummar, north of Hebron, and released another whose term of imprisonment ended on Thursday.

Mohammad Ayad Awad, spokesman for the Palestinian Solidarity Project, said Muntaser Diab Sa’eed A’tieyah Awad, 21, was arrested after soldiers broke into his home accompanied by sniffer dogs on Thursday night.

They ransacked its contents and arrested Muntaser before transferring him elsewhere, Awad said.

Israeli media reported that four Palestinians were detained overnight.

Meanwhile, Adham Mohammad Azmi Ikhleiliel, 20, was released after two years in jail and a 2,000-shekel fine.

Sheikh Jarrah: Settlers throw urine bottles, activists arrested

International Solidarity Movement
January 24, 2010
Thursday, January 22nd, settlers occupying the Gawi and Al-Kurd family’s homes were reported to be harassing and attempting to provoke the evicted Palestinians and solidarity activists to a violent response. Other settlers stood by with film equipment, ready to record any response to their provocation. The evening’s heckling resulted in the arrest of Marwan Abu al Saber. Al Saber was released later that night.
Settler harassment of neighborhood residents continued and during the night four chairs were stolen by settlers from the Al-Kurd tent. In the last two weeks they have also stolen an ISM”ers shoes and a shelf from the tent. Thursday night’s theft was reported to the police but no action was taken.
Friday morning a young settler boy in the Al-Kurd home threw bottles from the home towards the Al-Kurd tent. One bottle, directed at a solidarity activist who was filming nearby, contained urine.
The rest of the day was quiet and the weekly, nonviolent demonstration began as usual. Police closed the street and when demonstrators tried to enter the area, they were arrested. 15 Israeli activists were arrested as they tried to reach the Gawi and Al-Kurd tents. Access to the nearby Orthodox Jewish tomb was also restricted however access was granted for settlers and Jewish Israelis. At the barrier to the tomb, a few young orthodox Jewish boys began throwing stones at a Palestinian woman from the neighborhood. When it became apparent that the police were condoning these actions, neighborhood men tried to prevent the boys from throwing stones by pushing the boys away. Police reacted immediately to the Palestinian men and arrested Muhamad Zamamiri and Muhand Jalejel. Zamamiri was released Saturday without conditions but Jalajel stayed in jail until Sunday evening, was given a 1.500 Shekel fine and one month of house arrest. One ISM activist was also arrested while filming.
Arrestees were taken to the Russian Compound where most were detained for 24 hours. ISM actvist Kim Reis Jenson from Denmark was seen by a judge at 8pm on Saturday night and charged with attacking a police officer and disturbing police officer’s work. Later in the evening Jenson was released without being charged however the police still have his passport. It is unusual for police to withhold passports and when he will get it back remains unclear. Israeli activists were also released with their trial set for Tuesday January 26, 2010. Palestinian Muhand Jalejel was held  for 48 hours.
Background on Sheikh Jarrah

Approximately 475 Palestinian residents living in the Karm Al-Ja’ouni neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, located directly north of the Old City, face imminent eviction from their homes in the manner of the Hannoun and Gawi families, and the al-Kurd family before them. All 28 families are refugees from 1948, mostly from West Jerusalem and Haifa, whose houses in Sheikh Jarrah were built and given to them through a joint project between the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and the Jordanian government in 1956.
So far, settlers took over houses of four Palestinian families, displacing around 60 residents, including 20 children. At present, settlers occupy all these houses and the whole area is patrolled by armed private security 24 hours a day. The evicted Palestinian families, some of whom have been left without suitable alternative accommodation since August, continue to protest against the unlawful eviction from the sidewalk across the street from their homes, facing regular violent attacks from the settlers and harassment from the police.
The Gawi family, for example, had their only shelter, a small tent built near their house, destroyed by the police and all their belongings stolen five times. In addition, the al-Kurd family has been forced to live in an extremely difficult situation, sharing the entrance gate and the backyard of their house with extremist settlers, who occupied a part of the al-Kurd home in December 2009. The settlers subject the Palestinian family to regular violent attacks and harassment, making their life a living hell.
The ultimate goal of the settler organizations is to evict all Palestinians from the area and turn it into a new Jewish settlement and to create a Jewish continuum that will effectively cut off the Old City form the northern Palestinian neighborhoods. On 28 August 2008, Nahalat Shimon International filed a plan to build a series of five and six-story apartment blocks – Town Plan Scheme (TPS) 12705 – in the Jerusalem Local Planning Commission. If TPS 12705 comes to pass, the existing Palestinian houses in this key area would be demolished, about 500 Palestinians would be evicted, and 200 new settler units would be built for a new settlement: Shimon HaTzadik.
Implanting new Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank is illegal under many international laws, including Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. The plight of the Gawi, al-Kurd and the Hannoun families is just a small part of Israel’s ongoing campaign of ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people from East Jerusalem.
Legal background

The eviction orders, issued by Israeli courts, are a result of claims made in 1967 by the Sephardic Community Committee and the Knesseth Yisrael Association (who since sold their claim to the area to Nahalat Shimon) – settler organizations whose aim is to take over the whole area using falsified deeds for the land dating back to 1875. In 1972, these two settler organizations applied to have the land registered in their names with the Israel Lands Administration (ILA). Their claim to ownership was noted in the Land Registry; however, it was never made into an official registry of title. The first Palestinian property in the area was taken over at this time.
The case continued in the courts for another 37 years. Amongst other developments, the first lawyer of the Palestinian residents reached an agreement with the settler organizations in 1982 (without the knowledge or consent of the Palestinian families) in which he recognized the settlers’ ownership in return for granting the families the legal status of protected tenants. This affected 23 families and served as a basis for future court and eviction orders (including the al-Kurd family house take-over in December 2009), despite the immediate appeal filed by the families’ new lawyer. Furthermore, a Palestinian landowner, Suleiman Darwish Hijazi, has legally challenged the settlers’ claims. In 1994 he presented documents certifying his ownership of the land to the courts, including tax receipts from 1927. In addition, the new lawyer of the Palestinian residents located a document, proving the land in Sheikh Jarrah had never been under Jewish ownership. The Israeli courts rejected these documents.
The first eviction orders were issued in 1999 based on the (still disputed) agreement from 1982 and, as a result, two Palestinian families (Hannoun and Gawi) were evicted in February 2002. After the 2006 Israeli Supreme Court finding that the settler committees’ ownership of the lands was uncertain, and the Lands Settlement officer of the court requesting that the ILA remove their names from the Lands Registrar, the Palestinian families returned back to their homes. The courts, however, failed to recognize new evidence presented to them and continued to issue eviction orders based on decisions from 1982 and 1999 respectively. Further evictions followed in November 2008 (Kamel al-Kurd family) and August 2009 (Hannoun and Gawi families for the second time). An uninhabited section of a house belonging to the al-Kurd family was taken over by settlers on 1 December 2009.

Al-Aqsa member sentenced to 5 years in jail

Nablus – Ma’an – The Israeli military court in the settlement of Ofer sentenced Yousef Dabak, from the village Tayasir near Tubas, to five years in prison on Monday for membership in the Al-Aqsa Brigades, the armed wing of Fatah.

Dabak was also fined 3,000 shekels.

After being listed on Israel’s “wanted” list for five years, Dabak was detained on 4 December 2007.

Prisoner Society: postpone hearings at Salem military court, others extended without charge

07.09.09 - 12:40

Nablus / PNN – Calls are international to abolish the practice of Administrative Detention, a renewable sentence in Israeli prison imposed without charge or trial that can be extended at will.

The Palestinian Prisoner Society said today that the Israeli military court of Salem issued rulings recently extending the sentences of several people.

The Salem military court, built on northern West Bank lands, extended the sentence of Qusay Hussein Hamza from Dar Azzun for another month after already spending a year in Israeli prison. Asim Mazuz from the Jenin area, and a Tulkarem man were both extended as well. Wa’el Yassin was ordered to spend an additional month and pay 500 shekels.

The Prisoner Society reported Monday that the hearing of Yasser Abdul Ghani from Nablus’ Balata Refugee Camp has been postponed until the first of October while Salim Abu Saud from Nablus is scheduled for military court on 11 October.

Ghoul: Israeli leaders should stand trial for crimes against women prisoners

[ 04/08/2009 - 12:28 PM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- Minister of prisoners' affairs Mohammed Al-Ghoul has said that Israeli leaders should stand trial as war criminals for their flagrant violations of Palestinian female prisoners' rights. He told a press conference in Gaza on Monday that the number of female prisoners in Israeli occupation jails had reached 65 including three from the Gaza Strip, four from Jerusalem and the rest from the West Bank. Ghoul said that the Israeli prisons authority was preventing prisoners from visiting each other and corresponding with their families. They are also deprived of new clothes and shoes other than the fact that their cells are stormed at late night hours and their personal belongings searched, he said, adding that the prisoners are held in solitary confinement and forced to pay hefty financial fines at trivial pretexts. The women captives suffer from deliberate medical neglect, he said, noting that one third of them suffer from disease including serious cases such as Amal Juma who is suffering from cancer, and Nawal Al-Saadi, who suffered a stroke due to torture. Six of those prisoners are minors, the minister underlined, adding that three were kidnapped with their husbands, three held under administrative detention, and five had brothers also held in Israeli jails.

Youth sentenced to three years by Israel for Al-Aqsa affiliation

Published today (updated) 23/07/2009 16:55

Bethlehem – Ma’an – Israel’s Ofer military court sentenced 18-year-old Muhammad Hassan Salah from Al-Khader village to three years and two months in prison and a penalty 2,000 shekels for alleged affiliation to the Al-Aqsa Brigades.

The decision was handed down on Wednesday night. The Al-Aqsa Brigades is the armed wing of the Fatah party.

Comrade Sa'adat subjected to further prison repression following hunger strike

from the PFLP website

A new set of punishments have been issued against imprisoned Comrade Leader Ahmad Sa'adat, the General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, following a nine-day hunger strike against the occupation's denial of prisoners rights, won through long struggle, and the policy of solitary confinement.

The Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights sent an attorney to visit with Comrade Ahmad Sa'adat, the imprisoned General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, on June 15, 2009.

The administration of Asqelan prison held a hearing following the hunger strike, which Comrade Sa'adat refused to attend. The hearing resulted in a severe set of sanctions directed at Comrade Sa'adat, extending his denial of family visits, denial of visits to the prison cateen, and a 200 shekel fine, as well as a week extension of solitary confinement. These punishments come in addition to an earlier set of draconian sanctions directed at Comrade Sa'adat as a result of his leadership in the prisoners' movement.

On May 7, 2009, the occupation forces issued a series of punishments against Comrade Sa'adat, including denying him messages from his family for a month, prevention of family visits until September 5, 2009, the extension of his solitary confinement until June 28, 2009 and the removal of all electrical appliances, newspapers and magazines. The attorney noted that Comrade Sa'adat was kidnapped from the Palestinian Authority prison in Jericho in March 2006, where he had been held under PA, British and US guard, and after a mockery of justice, sentenced him to 30 years in prison. Comrade Sa'adat continually rejected the trial as illegitimate and refused to participate.

The Al-Mezan center condemned the policy of isolation and solitary confinement, noting that this practice violates international standards and is classified as a form of torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. The center called for the international community to work to the utmost to gain immediate protection for the rights of Palestinian prisoners, won through long struggle, and for the release of all Palestinian prisoners from the jails of the occupation.

Comrade Khalida Jarrar, member of the Political Bureau of the PFLP spoke on Sunday, June 14, 2009, summing up Comrade Sa'adat's nine-day hunger strike and detailing the methods of isolation used by the occupier, noting that there are 30 prisoners held in solitary confinement and that these men are held in single cells 23 out of 24 hours in the day. She noted that Comrade Sa'adat has been held in isolation since his transfer by the occupation authorities from Hadarim to Asqelan prison several months ago, and that his family has been barred from visiting him.

Abla Sa'adat, Comrade Sa'adat's wife, spoke about how she has not been able to visit her husband for three months and that her children have been barred from visiting him for the past three years. She demanded that human rights institutions act upon the issue of solitary confinement and isolation.