Freed Palestinian prisoner recounts torture and mistreatment in Israeli jails

 AIC

Mukhlis Burghal, a Palestinian prisoner who was freed in exchange for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, recalls, "[The] torture keeps changing: beatings, isolation, tear gas, suspension of family visits." And after spending over 24 years in Israeli prisons, Burghal looks towards the future.

After more than two decades in Israeli prisons, Burghal is getting used to things like cellular technology. "I want to be with my family, stay in my city, get to know it and get to know the people once again," Burghal says. (Photo: German Krimer)

Mukhlis Burghal grins like a child each time his mobile rings. He has become addicted to cellular technology since he discovered it just ten days ago.

“I´m in love with it; I have it on me everywhere I go”, Burghal, 49, confesses with a boyish smile that clashes with his white hair. His face is kind; his manners remarkably relaxed for a man who spent over 24 years in Israeli prisons. He discusses both his time in jail and his new-found freedom under the shade of lemon and tangerine trees behind his family home in Lod, not far from Tel Aviv.

On October 18, Burghal was released along with 476 Palestinians in exchange for Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier who as captured by Hamas more than five years ago. Burghal seems neither sad nor angry. He is far too interested in “absorbing,” as he puts it, everything: the new unfamiliar objects, like cell phones; the old things he has forgotten; and the memories that helped him survive beatings and mistreatment--people and places that are becoming alive once again.

“This is like being born again. It´s what I feel; I´m being reborn”, he says, as he glances at his five-year-old niece playing nearby.

During Burghal’s first free night, his house was full of people. Relatives, friends and neighbours had gathered to celebrate the day they had been waiting for since September 11th, 1987, when Israeli policemen arrested Burghal for throwing a grenade at a bus full of Israeli soldiers. Although the grenade did not go off and nobody died, a military court sentenced him to life imprisonment. 17 years later, his sentence was reduced to 40 years in prison.

But no one was thinking of those difficult times on the night Burghal was released.

“The most impressive and rejoicing part was seeing and feeling people. My family, all the citizens in my city, the Arab citizens, and many people from around here and from all over the country. I felt and saw happiness in the eyes of those people; this was what impressed me most and made me really happy,” he recalls, his eyes clouded by emotion.

Close to midnight, the house was still crowded, but Burghal and two of his brothers snuck away and went to their father´s grave. He died in 1991 and Burghal had never had the chance to say goodbye to him, to lay flowers on his tomb, or to or hug his mother. Burghal had not been allowed any calls, letters, or visits other than the regular 30-minute visit every fortnight (oin recent years, visits have been extended to 45 minutes).

Mukhlis had another “small dream” to achieve. In less than half an hour, the three men were barefoot, enjoying the sand of Jaffa beach. Above them, the stars and the moon projected a show of light and shadow, a show Mukhlis could only dream of for the last 24 years.

As he looks back, the grey-haired man who plays with his mobile with a shy smile does not speak with regret; nor does he make a stern statement in favor of the armed struggle or the “Palestinian revolution.”

“What will become of my life?” he wonders aloud. “The first thing I want is to spend a long time with my mother, I want to make her happy. I want to be with my family, stay in my city, get to know it and get to know the people once again. I want to reach a point where I can  feel normal in this new life. I want to visit my brothers who live abroad, too. And then, maybe in a year or two, I´ll plan something out. For the time being, I can´t make any plans. All in all, I don´t see myself too distant from the activities for the community”.

The only time Burghal’s youthful smile fades is when he remembers his friends who are still behind bars.

“The hardest thing is to know there´s not much I can do for them. After so many years of sharing hardships they become your family. Their families are my family and mine is theirs”, he says, as he looks at his brother, who visited him every month during the quarter of a century he spent in prison.

Over the last few days, his family has learned about Burghal’s suffering--the mistreatment and deprivation he had to endure inside the prison.

“The initial questioning is one of the most difficult moments, the hardest”, Burghal says, touching his head. “My head ended up with 14 stitches.”

Halfway through his jail time, he received another severe beating that resulted in 16 stitches in his head, a punctured lung, a broken rib, and a dislocated jaw.

“[The] torture keeps changing: beatings, isolation, tear gas, suspension of family visits," he recalls, with an emotional detachment that makes his story even harder to hear.

Transfers from one jail to another were another method of torture. Prisoners sometimes travel for up to ten hours, inside a metal box, with metal seats, with hands and feet cuffed together. They stop for two or three hours at each prison where, if they are lucky, guards may allow them to go to a bathroom.

“The food is thrown inside the truck in plastic bags,” he says. “I myself always avoided eating during those trips because all cuffed up and very uncomfortable, I ended up vomiting.”

But one of the most difficult mistreatment that Palestinian prisoners endure is shoddy--or no-- medical attention, given on the whim of the Israeli authorities. Burghal remembered three of his mates who died from asthma attacks and another one who caught AIDS after the prison dentist used an old needle.

“That shows how much they care for us,” Burghal says.

Burghal had to face three medical issues during his long stay in prison; one in the knee, another one in his back, and the third in his teeth. For the first two, after having all the pre-surgery check-ups, doctors decided that the operations were “not necessary.” Now, Burghal is planning to undergo surgery abroad.

His teeth, on the other hand, turned into a legal battle which left a bitter taste in his mouth: “I managed to get a doctor from outside but once the treatment started, they called it off. So now it´s not finished. I was told I had to make a new request for the treatment since they wanted to study my case once again.”

Burghal has a thousand stories to tell from his life in prison; in these 24 years the world has changed and so has he. He went in as a 25-year-old and, now, he is 49. He went in a young man with his whole life ahead of him and came out a veteran whose prison mates called “Uncle.”

But he would rather not give too much thought to the years that passed and all he missed. He wants to travel, enjoy his family, and feel normal again. At midlife, Mukhlis wants to be reborn.

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.

Naim warns of imminent danger threatening Palestinians in Israeli captivity

[ 09/10/2011 - 05:44 PM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- Dr. Basem Naim, the health minister in Gaza, has warned of imminent danger threatening the lives of Palestinian captives in Israeli occupation jails as a result of the deliberate medical neglect of their health conditions. He told a sit-in staged by families of those prisoners held in in front of the Red Crescent offices in Gaza city on Sunday that many of those detainees suffer from chronic disease such as kidney failure and cancer without any proper care being accorded to them on the part of the prison administrations. The minister said that his government gives top priority to the issue of those prisoners in view of the growing harassment against them on the part of the Israeli prison authority, adding that the government was rallying international support for this issue. Naim told the rally, held in solidarity with the prisoners who have been on hunger strike for the past two weeks, that the Palestinian people were unanimous in backing the issue of those prisoners.

Striking Palestinian Detainee Suffers Health Deterioration

Monday October 03, 2011 22:46 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

The health condition of Palestinian detainee Akram Mansour, 52, witnessed a sharp deterioration Monday as he continues his hunger strike along with hundreds of detainees imprisoned by Israel.

Held in Asqalan prison, Mansour suffers from a brain tumor and repeatedly loses consciousness. The Israeli Prison Administration is still refusing to provide him specialized medical treatment.

Around twenty detainees in Asqalan Israeli prison recently announced they would
join the open-ended hunger strike declared by most detainees in Israeli prisons last Monday. Mansur also decided to join the strike.

The detainees are demanding that Israel stop its violations against them, including the solitary confinement policy, random and violent searches and attacks against their rooms, and all other violations such as denying detainees medical treatment and humiliating families during visitations.

Mansour is the third oldest detainee in Israeli prisons; he was kidnapped and imprisoned by Israel more than 32 years ago.

UFree lobbies Allawi detention with European lawmakers

[ 11/09/2011 - 11:26 AM ]

OSLO, (PIC)-- The European network to support the Palestinian prisoners (UFree) has begun a campaign to raise the issue of Israel’s arrest of Al-Jazeera reporter Samer Allawi with European lawmakers and international human rights organizations. UFree head Mohammed Hamdan wrote several European MPs detailing Allawi’s situation. In the letters, he described how the Israeli authorities have refused to provide his rights as a prisoner or to provide him medical treatment or allow him to meet with his lawyer. A formal indictment has yet to be placed against Allawi since his arrest on 9 August. UFree, which has its headquarters in Oslo, Norway, launched a popular campaign in solidarity with Allawi, head of Al-Jazeera’s Afghanistan bureau, who was arrested while visiting family in the occupied territories last month. ------- IMEMC A Call To Release Palestinian Journalist Saturday September 10, 2011 22:08 by UFree Network Lawmakers and human rights advocates must intervene to free Samer Allawi, a Palestinian who works as Afghanistan bureau chief for Al Jazeera, says the organization UFree in a press release issued today. Allawi was detained without charges by the Israeli military on Aug. 9 when he was attempting to cross into Jordan from the West Bank, where he had been visiting family. He has been held in jail ever since. “We must protect the right of all Palestinians to visit their families, and the right of all journalists to move freely,” stated Mohammed Hamdan, chairman of (UFree) The European Network to Support the Rights of Palestinian Prisoners and its head office in Olso-Norway. “We all know what happens to many Palestinian detainees; reports of severe beatings and other forms of torture are not uncommon. There is no time to waste.” According to Al Jazeera, the 44-year-old Allawi was taken to a prison east of Haifa and interrogated by Israeli intelligence forces. Allawi's lawyer reports that he was questioned about his work for the network, and forced to reveal the log-in information for his personal and work emails and proprietary news software. Israeli authorities accused Allawi of being a member of Hamas and contacting its military leadership. However, he has regularly spent his yearly summer vacation with his family and relatives in his hometown in the occupied West Bank. "The arrest of Samer Allawi is a clear violation of the right to freedom of speech and movement enshrined in international law," stated Hamdan, adding that to date, UFree has received positive response to its letter. "It is way past time for the international community charged with protecting these rights to force the Israeli occupation authorities to stop their violations of these fundamental freedoms." More information on how all individuals can mobilize to help Allwai can be found at Related Link(s): http://ufree-p.net/eng/?p=856

Appeal to District Court for Independent Doctor to Visit Al Jazeera Journalist Samer Allawi Detained for 23 Days without Charge by the Israeli GSS (Shabak)

1-9-2011

Al Mezan

1 September 2011

Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, Adalah and Al Mezan:

(Jaffa-Tel Aviv, Israel)  Today, 1 September 2011, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-I), together with its partners Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel and the Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights in Gaza filed a prisoners' appeal to the Haifa District Court on behalf of Mr. Samer Allawi, a Palestinian national and the Afghanistan Bureau Chief for the international media network Al-Jazeera. In the appeal the three organizations demanded that the Israel Prison Service (IPS) and the Israel Security Agency (ISA, GSS, shabak) allow an independent physician volunteer from PHR-Israel, to immediately visit Mr. Allawi. 

On 25 and 29 August 2011, PHR-Israel sent urgent requests to the Chief Medical Officer of the IPS, Dr. Dini Tischler, requesting an immediate visit to Mr. Allawi by a physician volunteering with PHR-Israel, with no response to date. 

Mr. Allawi arrived in the Occupied West Bank in July 2011 on an annual visit to his parents. On 9 August 2011, following a stay of approximately 20 days, he tried to leave the area for Jordan and was arrested at the Allenby Crossing by the Israeli security forces. He has been held and interrogated by Israeli authorities ever since, for 23 days. 

He is currently detained at the Kishon prison, an IPS detention facility in Haifa, and is under interrogation by the ISA, with no charges have been filed against him to date.

Mr. Allawi's attorney, Salim Wakeem, has voiced concerns regarding the methods of his interrogation, particularly as Mr. Allawi suffers from chronic health conditions. Mr. Allawi's attorney was denied access to documentation concerning his medical condition and treatment.

Court protocols from Mr. Allawi's hearing dated 22 August 2011 indicate that Mr. Allawi was not examined by a physician upon arrival in the detention facility, in contradiction of the IPS regulations, which provide that a detainee should be examined by a medic within 24 hours and by a physician within 48 hours of arriving in a detention facility. 

According to court protocols, Mr. Allawi stated that since his arrest he has suffered pain that is not treated; that he was not examined by a physician since his arrest; that he has used only medications he had with him upon his arrest, and that the IPS has not supplied him with any further medication.

Court protocols from a later hearing dated 28 August 2011 suggest that the ISA has access to and has reviewed Mr. Allawi's medical documentation as part of his interrogation process. However, the ISA is retaining these records, along with a series of classified documents that are not revealed to anyone but the court.  In response to a query from Mr. Allawi’s lawyer, asking whether his medical condition had been considered when deciding on interrogation, the ISA interrogator answered in the affirmative, saying that '. . . there are medical documents from the detention facility physician that refer to the subject of shackling and to the subject of the medical condition of the suspect and the documents were presented to the court.'

This statement suggests that medical documents and personnel were used for the purpose of deciding the methods of interrogation in a non-transparent manner, and in contradiction of principles of medical ethics and medical confidentiality.

The answer provided by the ISA interrogator raises concerns that medical issues are reviewed and discussed within the detention system in a manner that mixes medical and security issues and may lead to the exploitation of health for security needs. This increases the risk of torture and/or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment (CIDT) as defined by the UN Convention Against Torture, to which Israel is a state party.

The right to receive adequate medical treatment, to be detained in conditions that do not harm one's health and to be examined by an independent physician are protected in the Israel Patients’ Rights Law, the IPS regulations, and in international standards for the protection of prisoners and detainees.

The fact that these rights are routinely and more easily compromised in the case of Palestinian prisoners interrogated by the ISA calls for special attention. In such circumstances and environment, torture tends to be more prevalent. 

PHR-I, Adalah and Al Mezan will urge the EU to raise the case of the detention of Mr. Allawi with the Israeli government at the upcoming EU-Israel human rights working group meeting, scheduled to take place in Israel on 13 September 2011, with specific regard to his medical condition and concerns for the conditions and methods of his interrogation and incarceration, as well as the need for an independent doctor's visit.

For further details please contact Anat Litvin 054-7322007 anat@phr.org.il or Hadas Ziv 054-6623232 hadas@phr.org.il

Israel to release cancer detainee

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli authorities said they will release a Palestinian detainee suffering from cancer, his family said Monday.

Zakariyya Dawood Issa, from Al-Khader near Bethlehem in the southern West Bank, is in a critical condition after cancer spread throughout his body, medics say.

The Palestinian Ministry of Prisoners’ Affairs said they will bring a lawsuit against Israeli authorities for delaying his medical treatment and thus precipitating a deterioration in his condition.

The family was informed that an Israeli discharge committee had agreed Zakariyya's release, Issa's brother told Ma'an on Monday.

Yahya Dawood Issa said the family is preparing to welcome him at home, before taking him to Beit Jala hospital.

"The family is waiting impatiently to see Zakariyya and get assurance about his condition, especially after his recent deterioration which caused the Israeli prison service to refer him to Beersheba prison hospital," Issa's brother said.

Zakariyya has three daughters and one son: Wisal, 20, Malak, 14, Dalal, 13, and Ahmad 19.

Ahmad Al-Beitawi, a researcher for International Solidarity for Human Rights, said the early discharge came after ISHR's lawyer submitted the request to the committee, the fruit of joint efforts between the organization and the prisoners' ministry.

Al-Beitawi said Issa is expected to be released Monday after coordination with the Palestinian ministry of prisoners affairs and a medical team, who will examine him and refer him to hospital.

"Such a decision by Israeli occupation [authorities] is not a favor, but rather a right guaranteed by international law," he said.

"The Israeli prison service also tries to avoid Palestinian prisoners dying in custody, to maintain a good image and to avoid prisoners’ reaction" he added.

Zakariyya Dawood Issa was detained on February 10, 2003 and sentenced to 16 years imprisonment, charged with being an activist for Islamist party, and now-Gaza Strip government leaders, Hamas.

Family of Jenin prisoner appeal for urgent medical treatment

[ 12/06/2011 - 05:18 PM ]

JENIN, (PIC)-- Family members of Palestinian prisoner Ahmed Abul Rub have said that their son held in the Israeli jail of Askalan was in very poor health condition and could die any moment. Sabria Abul Rub, the prisoner’s mother, said in a press release that her son, 33, could no longer walk on his feet and that he was walking with the help of crutches while he was in very good health when he was first detained and did not complain of any disease. She said that his condition started with pain that developed after the Israeli prison service refused to offer him proper treatment until he reached the stage of semi paralysis. Despite the seriousness of his disease, as doctors said, the IPS refused to release him and was content with giving him sedatives, the mother said, noting that her son, who is serving a 15-year sentence, suffered a lot in solitary confinement imposed on him in Askalan jail.

Family of sick captive appeal to Red Cross to work for his release

[ 10/06/2011 - 07:42 PM ]

TUBAS, (PIC)-- The mother of Palestinian captive Abdul Salam Bani Oudeh from Tamoun handed a letter to the International Red Cross representatives calling for the release of her sick son from Israeli occupation jails. The mother said that her son’s condition was worsening and held the occupation prison authority responsible for his life because they are not providing him with any medical attention. The Shatta prison administration moved Bani Oudeh to Afoula prison hospital after a sharp deterioration in his health. He is still in a critical condition and so far not diagnosed. Oudeh was arrested 9 years ago and is serving a 30-year sentence. He was well when he was arrested, but became ill inside the jail and to this day doctors have not been able to diagnose his condition or treat him.

Israel releases Hamas leader suffering from cancer

HEBRON (Ma'an) -- Israel has released a Hamas leader from Ofer military detention center because he has cancer, the Ministry of Prisoners' Affairs in Gaza said Thursday.

Yasser Rajoub, 58, was detained on Jan. 17 and sentenced to six months administrative detention without charge or trial.

He was released after four months because he has advanced lung cancer, ministry spokesman Riyadh Al-Ashqar said.

Lawyer Tariq Barghouth, who works for the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Prisoners Affairs, said Wednesday that the prosecutor agreed to release Rajoub after his condition worsened.

Rajoub, from Hebron in the southern West Bank, had spent over 14 years in Israeli detention. The Hamas leader heads the Dura society for orphans.

He was among hundreds of Hamas leaders deported to Lebanon by Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in the 1990s.

Rajoub's family hope to send him for treatment abroad, his lawyer said.

Female detainee suffers stomach ulcer in Israeli jail

RAMALLAH (Ma’an) -- The Palestinian detainees center reported Thursday that a female prisoner is suffering from a stomach ulcer and problems in her chest and teeth.

Amal Jum’a, held at Al-Damon prison, is from Nablus. She was detained in 2004 and banned from family visits except for one time each year. She was sentenced to 11 years.

Family urges Amnesty Int'l to press Israel to release seriously-ill detainee

PIC [ 31/05/2011 - 10:10 PM ]

From Khalid Amayreh in Dura, Israeli-occupied West The family and relatives of a Palestinian political detainee, who is seriously ill, are urging Amnesty International and other human rights organizations to press the Israeli government to release him "before it is too late." Yasser Mahmoud Rajoub, 53 and  father of four daughters, was arrested by the Israeli occupation army on January 10, 2011 on seemingly frivolous and abstract charges stating that he posed a security threat to the state of Israel . Such vague and nebulous charges are usually leveled against Palestinian individuals Israel wants to keep behind bars but lacks any real evidence that would indict them before a true court of law. Rajoub, who is  brother  to  former Palestinian Authority strongman Jibril Rajoub, is suffering  from lung  cancer. According to a recent medical report, his overall medical condition was progressively deteriorating. He reportedly lost a  lot of weight recently but the Israeli  prison authorities have so  far refused to allow him access to quality medical care. His administrative detention was recently extended for another six months for unexplained reasons. In addition to carcinoma,  Rajoub is also suffering from diabetes and high blood  pressure. According  to  treating  physicians, Rajoub  would die if no adequate medical  care was made available for him sooner than later. Earlier this week, Rajoub's four  daughters, Ibtihal, Ala'a, Ayaat and Hanin, appealed to  " all kind-hearted men and women around the world to help save our father from the claws of death." "Our father never hurt any person, never violated any law, or  committed any crime. He is being detained purely for his conscientious objections to the Israeli  occupation. His continued incarceration is an affront to justice, civility and human dignity. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. "In  all  countries, people are treated as innocent  until proven guilty. Here in Israel, a country that claims to be civilized and democratic,  people  are treated as guilty even if they are proven innocent. "We therefore call on all  conscientious people around the world to intervene rather immediately to save our father from this cruelty and looming  death." Yasser Rajoub was one of more than 400 Palestinian Islamic activists deported to southern Lebanon by the late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin more than 21 years ago. All in all, the former nurse spent more than 14 years in Israeli prisons and detention camps for his alleged political activism. However, he was never convicted of any actual felony or crime warranting a lengthy prison sentence. Rajoub's other twin brother Nayef, a former PA minister of Waqf and religious affairs, is also being held in administrative detention in an Israeli jail "for opposing the policies of the Israeli occupation regimes." He, too, spent more than 10 years in Israeli jails for his purely political activism against the occupation. An Israeli prison official said Rajoub was being treated as an "administrative detainee," meaning that his detention was first and foremost politically motivated. The spokesman admitted that whatever objectionable activities Rajoub that may have led to his open-ended imprisonment, were completely peaceful. However, the spokesman argued defensively that "we are not living in Sweden or Switzerland." When this writer retorted that human rights were universal, the spokesman said rather laconically "I am not authorized to elaborate more." In most administrative detention cases, which are in the hundreds, defense lawyers are barred from accessing whatever evidence justifying a prolonged  incarceration. In most cases, administrative detainees are made to languish in jails and detention centers for long periods extending up to 10 years without charge or trial. Human rights groups operating in the occupied Palestinian territories, including Israel's own B'tselem group, contend that the real rationale behind administrative detention is to torment and persecute a given Palestinian activist or suspected activist for his convictions and usually peaceful activities.

Palestinian captive suffers loss of memory after 10 years in occupation jails

[ 29/05/2011 - 10:14 AM ]

RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- Wadi’ Tamman (30), a Palestinian captive from the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, who suffers from epilepsy has lost his memory completely and no longer knows those around him, according to a Palestinian human rights organisation. The prisoners and ex-prisoners society (Husam) said in a statement on Saturday that Tamman is serving a ten-year sentence, which he almost completed and that he was from the Nafha desert prison to the Negev prison, then after he suffered his memory loss he was transferred to Eishel prison. The society further said that before his loss of memory, Tamman was suffering from depression and the prison administration failed to provide him with any treatment and now that he is suffering this loss of memory where he stopped recognising any of his colleagues in prison or remember his family the prison administration is completely neglecting him.

Detainees marking 10 years in Israeli prison

GAZA CITY (Ma’an) -- The Detainees Ministry in Gaza reported Wednesday that detainee Sana Shihadeh, 35, from Shu’fat refugee camp in Jerusalem has marked 10 years in Israeli detention.

Another detainee, Irina Paula Sarhaneh, 36, is also marking 10 years.

The ministry reported that Sana is sentenced to life at Hasharon prison and has teeth problems. The prison administration refuses to provide her with treatment for a dental problem, the ministry says. Her father suffers from cancer and she is afraid that her father will die without seeing her.

Detainee Irina is originally from Ukraine. She married a Palestinian called Ibrahim Sarhaneh and they lived in Ad-Duheisheh refugee camp. She was sentenced to 20 years on accusations of helping her husband transfer a suicide bomber to attack Rishon Litsion. Her husband was sentenced to life.

Irina has two daughters. One lives with her grandmother in Ukraine and the other daughter lives in Al-Duheisheh refugee camp with her grandparents.

Hadarim and Gilboa prisons join wide-ranging hunger strike

[ 18/05/2011 - 10:14 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- Palestinians held in the Hadarim and Gilboa prison have joined four more Israeli prisons in a wide-ranging hunger strike that has progressed intermittently for the past five days, the Gaza prisoner affairs ministry has declared. The actual number of prisoners that joined is 620. The prisoners are discussing lately going on an open-ended strike this July, a strike that would include all prisoners from various parties. They seek to pressure the prison administration into responding to demands to release the prisoners held in isolation and to end daily violations against them, and more. The prisoners enjoy high spirits, and they are determined to continue striking until demands are met, despite punitive measures taken against them in response by the prisons, said the Gaza ministry's media director Riyadh al-Ashkar. Since the strike, some prisoners have been denied visits for two months, and recreation time has been declined from three to one hour. Restrictions were also placed on canteen and television rights. Separately, the Palestinian Prisoner Society has reported that two prisoners from the Gaza Strip held at the the Shatta prison have gone on hunger strike for the past several days demanding to be moved to the Negev prison. One of the men is seriously ill, and the food strike is a life-threatening risk. Another prisoner has been infected with a virus in the face, which has cost him his speech and sight in the right eye, rights groups in Palestine have reported. They said he was taken to the Ramle hospital but now has returned to the Shatta prison. Meanwhile three men under threat of being banished from occupied Palestinian territory have been set free on NIS 30,000 bail bond and on condition of house arrest.

Rights group: 1,500 detainees need medical treatment

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- A detainees' center said Monday that over 1,500 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails needed medical attention.

A lawyer from the center visited one of Israel's desert jails in Beer Sheva, and found that prison authorities punished detainees by refusing them medical attention.

He said the jail's administration had refused treatment to Bilal Badra, who suffered severe pain from a kidney infections. Badra was detained in 2002 and sentenced to 18 years.

The center called for an investigation into Israel's practice of denying Palestinian detainees medical treatment, and said it was common across the country's prisons.

The number of sick detainees was increasing and many had life-threatening illnesses, the center added.

Prisoner strike secures eye surgery for inmate

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- A successful prisoners strike saw a Palestinian detainee in Israel receive eye surgery, which friends and relatives said was long overdue, Hussam Detainees' Center said.

Sufian Al-Zibda, from Gaza City, had an operation on his left retina at the Soroka Hospital in Beersheba, the center said.

A prison doctor had reportedly said the detainee needed urgent surgery but Israel's Prison Service had refused to allow his treatment.

Prisoners launched a strike in protest of the decision.

Al-Zibda was detained in 2010 by Israeli forces at the Erez crossing, as he tried to leave Gaza to go to the West Bank. He was sentenced to 30 months in prison.

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.

Israel Imposes New Series of Punitive Measures against Prisoners in Ofer

RAMALLAH, April 11, 2011 (WAFA) – Israeli Penitentiary Administration Monday imposed a series of punitive measures on Palestinian prisoners in ‘Ofer’ prison, south of Ramallah city, after a delegation from the administration paid an unannounced visit to the prison.

Director of the Center for Defence of liberties & civil rights “Hurryyat”, Helmi al-A’raj, told WAFA that the Penitentiary Administration has taken a number of punitive decisions against prisoners; deprive them from education in universities, prevent the entry of  newspapers to the prison, reduce the number of television stations, and threaten to impose collective punishments on prisoners if any prisoner commits a violation on the security level, pointing out that these measures will be applied in the other prisons.

He also said that 52 year-old prisoner Yasser Rajoub’s health is seriously deteriorating, in Ofer prison.

He added that prisoners demand the immediate release of  Rjoub who suffers from lung cancer and his condition is very critical, holding the prison’s Administration full responsible for his life.

F.R.

Prisoners on hunger strike for sick detainee

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Palestinians detained in Israeli jails announced Wednesday a hunger strike to be held on Thursday in solidarity with imprisoned cancer sufferer Akram Mansour.

The one day hunger strike protests the continued detention of Mansour, who suffers from a brain tumor and lacks appropriate treatment, and has two years remaining of his 33-year sentence, according to a statement from detainees in Ashkelon prison, in southern Israel.

The action comes in response to "medical negligence and slow killing that is carried out by the administration of prisons and their medical staff against the prisoners in the Israeli jails, and due to the health deterioration of Akram Mansour," the statement noted.

Akram Mansour, 51, from the West Bank city of Qalqiliya, was detained in 1980 and sentenced to life imprisonment, according to a detainees center.

In January, the center's lawyer said Mansour is not receiving treatment for his cancer and called for his release.

On March 25, Detainees' Affairs Minister Issa Qaraqe said Mansour had suffered a stroke, and that Israel's prison administration was responsible for Akram Mansour's life.

The prisoners called on human rights organizations to support their hunger strike and named April 7 the "Day of Freedom for imprisoned leader Akram Mansour."

Palestinian prisoners go on single day hunger strike

[ 07/04/2011 - 11:34 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- Palestinian prisoners in Israeli occupation jails go on hunger strike on Thursday to protest the continued Israeli repressive measures against them including medical neglect and solitary confinement. Sources following up the prisoners' issue told the PIC that the prisoners were also protesting the humiliating treatment of their relatives heading to visit them. The sources said that the precautionary strike is also in solidarity with prisoner Akram Mansour, the third oldest serving Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails who spent more than 30 years in captivity. He was set to conclude his term in three years time but the Israeli courts added a life sentence to his older verdict, they noted. He was convicted back in 1979 of killing an Israeli soldier and taking his weapon.