Prisoners on agenda at Arab League meet

Published yesterday (updated) 14/11/2009 16:37

Bethlehem – Ma'an – The Arab League met in Cairo on Saturday to discuss the plight of Palestinian prisoners.

Delegates were expected to discuss allegations of mistreatment toward 33 specific women, including torture and forced confessions.

Issa Qaraqi, the Palestinian Authority's minister of prisoners and ex-detainees, said the meeting would initiate an international and Arab campaign "to support prisoners politically and legally," and said he would present a report on "inhumane Israeli practices" in the country's jails.

In a statement, he stressed that the international community should seek curbs on imprisoning minors, as well as efforts to end to administrative detention, a term that refers to Israel's policy of detaining Palestinians for up to six months at a time without charge.

Qaraqi said the Arab League will vote on two new observer members, Norway and Slovenia, as well as other administrative issues including the appointment of an assistant secretary-general to replace the late Mowaffaq Nassar, who died in July.

At the request of Syria, Secretary-General Amr Moussa brought forth a memorandum on the 355 children jailed in Israeli prisons, as well as allegations that Israel was trafficking prisoners' organs. Moussa will also meet with the foreign minister of Cyprus, Marcos Kyprianou, to discuss the general situation in the region.

IOA extends administrative detention of Sheikh Saadi

[ 11/11/2009 - 10:51 AM ]

JENIN, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) renewed for the sixth time the administrative detention of Sheikh Bassam Al-Saadi, a senior Islamic Jihad leader in Jenin, after spending six years in Israeli jails. The wife of Sheikh Saadi said that the IOA extended his detention on the last day, where he was expected to be released on Tuesday, adding that her husbanded was suppressed for two days in Salek prison and locked up in solitary confinement. For its part, the prisoners’ center for studies called on all organizations concerned with the issue of prisoners to pool their efforts to support all administrative prisoners and get them released. Ra’fat Hamdouna, the director of the center, said that the Palestinian prisoners in administrative detention do not know the end of their sentences and when they will be released, but they stay hostages to the secret intelligence files presented by Israeli prosecutors to Israeli courts without allowing them or their lawyers to have access to these files.

Ministry of detainees: Israel stepped up its racist practices against prisoners

[ 11/11/2009 - 10:50 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- The Palestinian ministry of prisoners stated Tuesday that the Israeli occupation authority (IOA) has stepped up its malicious racist practices against detainees, who number more than 10,000 Palestinians. Information director of the ministry Riyadh Al-Ashqar gave many examples of the serious violations committed against prisoners in Israeli jails, noting that these violations reflect Israel’s hatred and racism against everything Palestinian. Ashqar explained that an Israeli court sentenced a prisoner having an amputated leg called Nahed Faraj to life three times and issued two life sentences against prisoner Riyadh Arafat and ordered to keep him away from any "human society". He added that the Israeli special military units named Nahshon vented their hatred on another prisoner called Mohamed Abu Jamous after he left the Israeli high court in Jerusalem, where they shouted in his face, forced him to undress and then embarked on beating him with their batons and kicked him for more than half an hour causing him severe injuries all over his body. The Hasharon prison manager also physically assaulted prisoner Ibrahim Hamed as he was chained by his legs and hands which led to serious injuries in his body and head, the official said. The official elaborated that the Israeli prisons authority also imposes different arbitrary punitive measures like keeping prisoners in cells with mentally-ill patients or putting them in solitary confinement for long periods. The official appealed to human rights organizations to intervene to stop Israel’s racist practices and violations against Palestinian prisoners in its jails.

Update on the arrest of human rights defender Mohammad Othman

Joint Addameer and “Stop the Wall” Update on the Arrest of Human Rights Defender and Activist Mohammad Othman

[Ramallah, 9 November 2009] On Sunday 8 November 2009, a court hearing at Ofer Military Court extended Mohammad Othman’s detention period for another 10 days. It has been 46 days since Mohammad Othman, a long-time human rights defender and activist with the “Grassroots Stop the Wall Campaign”, was arrested at the Allenby Bridge Crossing between Jordan and the West Bank and held for interrogation. On the day of his arrest, 22 September 2009, Mohammad was on his way back to Ramallah from an advocacy tour in Norway where he had been engaged in a number of speaking events. 

Barring Mohammad from Access to his Attorney

On 1 November 2009, military court prosecutors requested that Mohammad be barred from meeting with his lawyers until his next court hearing, which was scheduled for 8 November 2009. Before this request, Mohammad’s lawyers visited regularly and constituted his only contact with the outside world, except for occasional visits by ICRC delegates. The court hearing deciding on the prosecution’s request took place at Salem Military Court the following day, 2 November 2009, without Mohammad or his lawyer present. Addameer, which is representing Mohammad before the military courts, was neither informed of the prosecution’s request nor of the court’s subsequent decision to implement the ban on lawyers’ visits.

 The ban was only discovered on 4 November 2009, when Addameer attorney Samer Sam’an was forbidden from visiting Mohammad upon Sam’an’s arrival to Kishon detention center for a regular visit aiming at monitoring Mohammad’s health and detention conditions. That same day, Adv. Sam’an also learned that Mohammad had been transferred to Ohalei Keidar prison, located in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba.

On 5 November 2009, Addameer filed an appeal to challenge the court’s decision barring Mohammad from access to his lawyers. At the appeal hearing held on 8 November, the Military Court of Appeals judge stated that Addameer must appeal the ban directly to the Israeli High Court as the Appeals Court lacked jurisdiction over such matters. Although Addameer recognizes that the judge’s recommendation is the usual procedure under Israeli military orders, as Mohammad Othman’s attorney, Mahmoud Hassan, argued before the Appeals Court, orders barring a detainee from access to his lawyer are typically issued as an administrative measure at the very early stages of an individual’s detention, and typically not later than after the first week. Moreover, in Addameer’s experience, there has never been a case where a ban on lawyers’ visits was implemented by a court’s decision, 46 days into the interrogation. Addameer is thus tremendously alarmed, and fears that the ban on lawyers’ visits is yet another step to isolate Mohammad and coerce him into giving a false confession about crimes he has not committed after the interrogation police’s strategy of threats, intimidation, sleep deprivation, solitary confinement, physical and mental exhaustion has failed. There is reason to believe that Mohammad Othman’s transfer to Ohalei Keidar prison in Beersheba was intended to exert further pressure on him by placing him in so-called “collaborators’ cells”. Torture and ill-treatment in such cells is widespread and known to occur in some sections of Ohalei Keidar, where detainees are often beaten, punched, threatened and exposed to psychological pressure if they refuse to talk to other prisoners, who are detained in the same cells and who are typically collaborating with Israeli military authorities. 

 Addameer is also alarmed that, at the appeal hearing, the judge of the Military Court of Appeals decided that Mohammad’s hearing regarding the extension of his detention would take place in his absence for “the sake of the interrogation”. Because Mohammad is now barred from access to lawyers’ visits, and Addameer attorneys have not seen him since 1 November, yesterday’s court hearing was the only opportunity for both Addameer and Mohammad’s family to ensure that he is in good health. However, as Mohammad was not brought to the hearing, Addameer remains extremely concerned about his health including his physical and mental well-being, especially given the high likelihood that he is being exposed to ill-treatment in Ohalei Keidar.  

Extension of Detention Hearing 

A few hours after the appeal hearing on 8 November 2009, another court hearing took place to decide on Mohammad’s extension of detention period. This was the sixth hearing regarding the extension of Mohammad’s detention since his arrest on 22 September 2009. Again, as in previous hearings, no charges were laid against Mohammad and no external evidence was brought to the court’s attention. As in previous hearings, the military court again justified its decision to extend Mohammad’s detention period stating that it was needed for further interrogation. At the same time, the military judge also extended Mohammad’s ban on access to lawyers’ visits until 15 November 2009, contending that such a ban was necessary for the sake of the interrogation.

 During the hearing, Mohammad’s attorney Mahmoud Hassan argued yet again that the arrest of individuals based on reasonable suspicions is admissible only in the beginning of an individual’s detention. However, as Adv. Hassan argued, after 46 days of detention allegedly for the purpose of interrogation, such suspicions must be substantiated and supplemented by external evidence if any fair trial standards are to be upheld. Information on Mohammad’s interrogation gathered before his transfer to Ohalei Keidar casts serious doubt as to whether his ongoing detention is based on valid reasoning or the pursuit of credible evidence. For example, while held at Kishon detention center, Mohammad was subjected to long interrogation sessions where he was kept in the same position for long hours, yet the Israeli interrogators continued to ask few, if any, questions at all. In another example, on 27 October 2009, Mohammad was interrogated for more than nine hours in two separate sessions. The first session took place from 8:10 a.m. until 9:20 a.m., whereas the second started at 9:45 a.m. and did not end until 5:45 p.m. Despite the marathon, nine hour interrogation session, the Israeli interrogators wrote only a two page report.

Addameer and Stop the Wall’s Position 

Considering that, 46 days after Mohammad’s arrest, Israeli authorities have still been unable to cite any legitimate suspicions or allegations to justify his detention, both Addameer and Stop the Wall contend that Mohammad’s arrest was arbitrary and therefore illegal under applicable international law, in particular the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders. Addameer and Stop the Wall also reaffirm their previously stated position that Mohammad was arrested because of his high-profile advocacy work, both locally and internationally, as a human rights defender voicing opposition to Israel’s ongoing human rights violations in the occupied Palestinian territory, including those resulting from the continuing, illegal construction of the Annexation Wall inside the West Bank.

The protection of human rights defenders is not only a moral obligation, but has been recognized by the United Nations as a social, individual and collective right and responsibility. Addameer and Stop the Wall thus urge foreign government officials, including members of foreign representative offices to the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah and foreign Consulates in East Jerusalem, as well as representatives of the European Commission and the European Parliament, human rights organizations and United Nations bodies to:

 ·         Raise Mohammad Othman’s case in their official meetings with Israeli officials;

·         Demand clarifications regarding the reason for Mohammad’s arrest and extended detention in official letters addressed to Israeli authorities;

·         Demand Mohammad’s immediate release and pressure Israel to put an end to its policy of arbitrary detention.

In addition, Addameer and Stop the Wall urge the International Committee of the Red Cross to increase their visits and request to see Mohammad more frequently to grant him special protection, especially as he remains barred from access to lawyers’ visits.

 For more information about Mohammad’s arrest, please refer previous statements and updates on the case issued by Addameer and “Stop the Wall”, or directly contact:

Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association

Tel: +972 (0)2 296 0446 / 297 0136
Email: info@addameer.ps
Website: www.addameer.info

Stop the Wall Campaign
Tel: +972-2-2971505
Email: global@stopthewall.org
Website: www.stopthewall.org

Ahmad Sa'adat calls from his isolation cell for action to support prisoners

http://www.freeahmadsaadat.org/

The Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat - info@freeahmadsaadat.org -

Twitter:http://twitter.com/freeahmadsaadat

Ahmad Sa'adat, imprisoned Palestinian national leader, General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and Palestinian Legislative Council member, issued a letter from his isolation cell on November 8, 2009, in response to the October 22 international day of action and the efforts of political, social, legal and media organizations in solidarity with Comrade Sa'adat and all Palestinian prisoners, particularly those confronting isolation in the jails of the occupier, calling for ongoing actions against isolation and in support of the prisoners.
Sa'adat's letter expressed his support for the actions and said:

"The policy of isolation is a flagrant violation of international humanitarian and human rights law, and the law of prohibition of torture. This policy is also a systematic practice of killing and destruction of the human personality, and in some cases, a mechanism for carrying out a living death sentence against freedom fighters, particularly those who have served many long years in isolation, such as Hassan Salameh, Jamal Abu Hija, Ibrahim Hamed, Ahmed al-Maghrabi, Abdullah al-Barghouthi and others.

"The policy of isolation, this death penalty imposed upon prisoners and detainees, are not based on any legal grounds. It is a decision of the occupation intelligence services under a secret file that may be seen by nobody but for the judge, who has never denied any decision to isolate a prisoner or made clear any mechanism for the use of isolation.

"The policy of isolation targets the essence of human rights and humanity - the right to social relationships - through isolation from the surrounding environment, and means deprivation of even the minimal rights under the laws of the Israeli Prisons Administration, including access to newspapers, books and clothes. It is collective punishment of prisoners' families as well, as every decision to isolate a prisoner is accompanied by a 3 month prohibition on family visits."

Sa'adat concluded his letter with a call: "The struggle of the prisoners for freedom is part and parcel of the ongoing struggle of our people which will end only with the defeat of occupation across all of the soil of Palestine. I call upon all institutions, activists and organizations to develop an action plan to support the struggle of prisoners in general, and, in particular, the prisoners suffering in isolation."

Join with the Campaign to take action and answer this call!
1.Distribute the Free Ahmad Sa'adat flyer: http://www.freeahmadsaadat.org/saadat-flyer.pdf in your town, city, event or location! Bring the flyers to events and activities, or hold a flyer distribution at a public place.

2. Call the Israeli embassy or consulate in your location(http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/About+the+Ministry/Diplomatic+missions/Web+Sites+of+Israeli+Missions+Abroad.htm) and demand the immediate freedom of Ahmad Sa'adat and all Palestinian political prisoners.

3. Write to the International Committee of the Red Cross and other human rights organizations to exercise their responsibilities and act swiftly to demand that the Israelis ensure that Ahmad Sa'adat and all Palestinian prisoners are freed from punitive isolation. Email the ICRC, whose humanitarian mission includes monitoring the conditions of prisoners, at jerusalem.jer@icrc.org, and inform them about the urgent situation of Ahmad Sa'adat.

4.Email the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat at info@freeahmadsaadat.org with announcements, reports and information about your local events, activities and flyer distributions.

The International Day of Action, which took place on October 22, 2009, included protests, sit-ins and media events throughout Palestine and around the world. Events in Palestine took place in Ramallah, Tulkarem, Qalqilya, Bethlehem, Jenin, Al-Khalil, Gaza City, Rafah, Khan Younis, Nusseirat, and elsewhere. In Amman, Damascus, Saida, and in many Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, events and rallies for Sa'adat and the prisoners took place, while international actions, statements and media campaigns took place around the world - in Brazil, Chile, Galicia, France, Greece, Denmark, Poland, Canada and the United States. In San Francisco, demonstrators who interrupted the speech of former Israeli prime minister and war criminal Ehud Olmert carried posters calling for the freedom of Ahmad Sa'adat, while the World Federation of Democratic Youth called for action from its member organizations.

On October 22, Sa'adat's isolation was extended an additional six months by an Israeli military court, after he had already spent six months in isolation. Sa'adat, the General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, was elected to his position in 2001 following the assassination of the previous General Secretary, Abu Ali Mustafa, on August 27, 2001 by a U.S.-made Apache missile shot from an Israeli military helicopter as he sat in his office in Ramallah. He was abducted by Palestinian Authority security forces after engaging in a meeting with PA officials under false pretenses in February 2002, and was held in the Muqata' PA presidential building in Ramallah until April 2002, when in an agreement with Israel, the U.S. and Britain, he and four of his comrades were held in the Palestinian Authority's Jericho prison, under U.S. and British guard.

He remained in the PA jails, without trial or charge, an imprisonment that was internationally condemned, until March 14, 2006, when the prison itself was besieged by the occupation army and he and his comrades were kidnapped. While imprisoned in the PA jail in Jericho, he was elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council. Since that time, he has been held in the prisons of the occupation and continually refused to recognize the illegitimate military courts of the Israeli occupation. He was sentenced to thirty years in prison on December 25, 2008 solely for his political activity, and has spent over six months in isolation at the present time.

On March 18, 2009, Sa'adat was moved into isolation at Asqelan prison, facing serious medical consequences. In June 2009, Sa'adat engaged in a nine-day hunger strike against his isolation. On August 10, 2009, Sa'adat was moved from the isolation cells at Asqelan to the isolation unit at Ramon prison in the Naqab desert. On October 22, 2009, he was consigned to an additional six months in the isolation cells.

Sa'adat's biography, writings and statements are available at the website of the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat.

The Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat
http://www.freeahmadsaadat.org/
info@freeahmadsaadat.org
Twitter:http://twitter.com/freeahmadsaadat

Prisoners center: Medical neglect threatens lives of diabetic detainees

[ 10/11/2009 - 10:44 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- The prisoners' center for studies has said that the lives of Palestinian sick detainees in Israeli occupation authority jails were in danger especially those with diabetes. The center in a statement on Tuesday quoted one of the detainees in Hadarim jail as saying that the Israeli prisons authority (IPA) completely ignores threats to the lives of sick detainees especially those suffering diabetes. He said that tens of prisoners suffer various diseases such as cancer, heart ailment, kidney failure, hypertension, rheumatism, ulcers, dental problems and weak eyesight among others. The detainee charged the IPA with procrastinating regarding medical check ups for those prisoners and allowing surgeries for those in need. The director of the center, Ra'fat Hamdona, called for saving the lives of those prisoners and for ending the policy of medical neglect that had already led to the death of tens of captives. Hamdona held the IPA responsible for lives of those prisoners and called for allowing doctors to visit them especially those suffering chronic diseases or in need of surgeries.

IOF soldiers round up 8 Palestinians most of them from Al-Khalil

[ 10/11/2009 - 09:59 AM ]

AL-KHALIL, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) at a late hour on Monday and at dawn Tuesday kidnapped six Palestinian citizens in Al-Khalil district including a teenager, local sources reported. The sources told PIC that the IOF troops detained three university students in Al-Fawwar refugee camp south of Al-Khalil city including the teenager. They noted that the three were affiliated with the Islamic group, the students' wing of the Islamic Jihad Movement, and one of them was previously held in Israeli occupation authority (IOA) jails. In Al-Khalil city, the IOF soldiers detained a post graduate student, who was previously held in the IOA jails and by militias of Mahmoud Abbas, the former PA chief. The IOF soldiers also detained a young man in Dura village, south of Al-Khalil, who was released from Abbas's jail only recently and another from Beit Ummar village, north of Al-Khalil. The IOF has thus rounded up 17 Palestinians from Al-Khalil district since the start of November. The IOF soldiers arrested two other Palestinians in occupied Jerusalem and Jericho at dawn Tuesday. Locals reported that IOF soldiers stormed Ram village to the north of occupied Jerusalem and detained a Palestinian citizen after searching his home while other IOF units arrested another young man in Jericho city. The IOF command claimed that both detainees had taken part in military attacks against its soldiers.

Man sentenced for leading Al-Aqsa fighters

Qalqiliya – Ma’an – The Israeli military court in Salem sentenced a Palestinian man to nine years in prison on Monday nine on the charge of leading q group of fighters in opposition to occupying forces.

Yousef Abdel Rahman Shtewi was accused of leading members of Fatah’s armed wing, the Al-Aqa Brigades, in the West Bank city of Qalqiliya.

Local sources said Shtewi was detained by Israeli soldiers during a raid on his house on 23 February 2007. He is being held at Israel’s military prison in Meggido.

Israeli court turns down appeal by two detained PLC deputies

[ 07/11/2009 - 10:45 AM ]

AL-KHALIL, (PIC)-- The Israeli military court in Ofer has turned down an appeal by two members of the Palestinian legislative council (PLC) against extension of their administrative detention. The Ofer court said that the six-month administrative detention against MPs Dr. Azzam Salhab and Nizar Ramadan should be enforced. The Israeli occupation forces arrested both MPs seven months ago only few weeks after serving almost 40 months in incarceration and held them in administrative custody that was renewed recently.

Gaza man sentenced to three life terms in Israeli court

Bethlehem – Ma'an – An Israeli military court sentenced a Palestinian man to three life prison terms on Thursday, after convicting him of the killing of three Israeli soldiers and injuring a fourth in a roadside explosion seven years ago, Israeli media sources reported.

Nahed Al-Aqra, a Gaza resident, was convicted by the Beersheba military court.

Al-Arqa was found guilty of placing an explosive device under the tank of the soldiers near the Netzarim base in Gaza.He was also accused and convicted of membership with the Popular Resistance Committees.

Mother of long-serving Palestinian prisoner dies

Published today (updated) 08/11/2009 16:16

[MaanImages - Archive]

Bethlehem – Ma'an – The mother of Palestinian prisoner Rizq Salah from the southern West Bank town of Al-Khadr near Bethlehem died on Saturday.

Maryam Salah, 77, passed away on Saturday whilst her son continues to serve a life sentence in an Israeli jail.

The director of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society in Bethlehem Abdullah Zghari said, "The staff of the prisoners' society and families of prisoners as a whole felt sorry over the death of Maryam Salah who spent the last 17 years of her life suffering at Israeli military checkpoints, and prison gates while visiting her son."

He highlighted that Maryam suffered from a brain clot a year ago, and remained bedridden. However, on 23rd of February 2009, she insisted on visiting Rizq at Beer Sheva prison in an ambulance – her final visit to her son.

Michigan woman imprisoned by Israel following settler takeover of Palestinian home

Friday, November 6, 2009
http://alethonews.blogspot.com/2009/11/michigan-woman-imprisoned-by-israel.html

Imprisoned American citizen and Michigan resident Ahlam Mohsen to be deported to the US after being arrested in a Palestinian home taken over by Israeli settlers in Occupied East Jerusalem.

Ahlam was a guest of the al-Kurd family when on the morning of 3 November 2009 Israeli settlers burst in and seized part of the building. Contrary to eyewitness accounts, the police claim the 21-year-old attacked them.

From the Givon prison in Ramle where Ms. Mohsen is currently awaiting deportation she reported that: "The Israeli police were violently pushing an elderly Palestinian woman. So I stepped in front of them. They told me to move and when I refused they started forcefully pushing me. Then they grabbed me and carried me into a police van. While I was waiting at the Israeli Ministry of Interior, the police officers kept telling each other that I was a `dirty Arab' and introducing me as 'Osama Bin Laden's sister'. One of them, threatened to `break my head'. None of the other non-violent demonstrators were targeted; the way they treated me, it's obvious that I was arrested because I'm of Arab descent."

The 40 settlers, accompanied by private armed security and Israeli police forces, entered a section of the home, threw out the family's belongings and locked themselves in.

The take-over came after an appeal submitted by the family's lawyer was rejected by the District Court. In their appeal, the Palestinian family was challenging an earlier court decision that deemed a section of the house illegal and ordered that the keys be given to settlers. The settlers proceeded to enter the house, while the court did not grant them the right to enter the property.

The al-Kurd home was built in 1956. An addition to the house was built 10 years ago, but the family was not allowed to inhabit the section because the municipality refused to grant them a building permit. Visibly unequal laws are used to make it possible for settlers to move into a home where it was declared illegal for Palestinian residents to inhabit. The Israeli authorities exercise their abilities to demolish and evict Palestinian residents, while ignoring building violations from the Israeli population in East Jerusalem.

The al-Kurds have become the fourth Sheikh Jarrah family whose house has been occupied by settlers in the last year. So far, 60 people have been left homeless. In total, 28 families living in the Karm Al- Ja'ouni neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah, located directly north of the
Old City, face imminent eviction from their homes.

See video:
http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2009/11/03/hancocks.fight.for.jerusalem.cnn

Ahlam is imprisoned in the Givon prison in Ramle. She is available for
interviews.

Please contact:
Ahlam Mohsen +972.548.845.924
Sasha Solanas, ISM Media office +972.54.903.2981

Gazan Prisoners and the Winter

Thursday, 05 November 2009 14:39 Added by PT Editor Sameh A. Habeeb

Gaza, November 4, 2009, (Pal Telegraph) - Nobody can deny the pain of feeling cold in every winter, foots and fingers freezing despite wearing heavy clothes and heating machines in houses , in the last week in Gaza strip rain fall, winds take everything in it's way. During these condition I thought of the Gazan prisoners in the Israeli prisons after I read the news about - Isrealis-preventing their families from sending the prisoners' clothes for the winter.
When I met the prisoner Nafith Harb 's wife , She complained that she was prevented from visiting her husband - since 2007. She said, " every visit I was leaving home early in the morning and have to come back in the middle of the night , all of this to see him for a five and forty minutes . Many hard situation happened during the visits one - of them I'll never forget it - my prisoner husband didn't know our daughter because she was unable to visit him before ".
This family is one of many in Gaza strip .(This is the situation) In Israeli prisons there are 780 prisoners, specially in Nafha, Remon and ALnaqab prisons. 128 of them are in the list of the oldest prisoner, all of them prevented of visits since 2007.
Nafith spent 25 years in prison, many things happened to his family .One incident was-His son was injured during the war, the lonely mother said " I felt I'm unable to save my son, I was unable to go abroad for treatment, it was a hard fall, we need him beside us". God help those prisoners' wives, facing the life in such miserable conditions, alone and are completely responsible for a family -while/as they can do nothing for their beloved.
The lovely grandmother said," our six sons and daughters married, now we have 21 grandchild , not one of them has seen their grandfather except in a photo, I'm waiting for them to grow up- to tell them about their grandfather , our hero "
In the same place while it was raining, I talk to Khaled Abu Asha 's wife, According to her: he spent three years in prison despite not being adjudge(Convicted)till now. The Israeli part, appeals that he should be imprisoned for the rest of his life.
She said " I was pregnant ( six months)- when he was arrested.My husband asked me to name him (Mamoon). My child does not know his father , he think his big brother is his father and calls him Daddy , I fell sorry when I look to him .If his father spents the rest of his life in prison ( Mamoon ) will never see him"
Who can imagine the feelings of (Mamoon ) when his mother tells him the truth ?, Will he understand why - that he will never see his Daddy again ! ,How can one explain to this child that - His father is alive but he can't touch him because he is in prison ! .
The sad wife told that she is still prevented from visiting her husband or to send him money or clothes . At first she was sending the money to other prisoner families in West Bank to buy him his needs, but now even those families can't send him any thing .
The prisoners' families feel worry for their' sons' in prison. They urge the prison authorities to provide them with clothes, shoes and covers to protect their bodies from cold and diseases ,which will attack them easily in such 'bad' conditions,.The management of the prisons must provide for the poor prisoners and meet their needs.
All these stories about Prisoners and their families disrupt lives and all these 'old' methods of dealing with prisoners is unjust?

By Noor Swairki
Pal Telegraph Reporter in Gaza

Apartheid Israel releases six more Palestinian MPs

[ 03/11/2009 - 09:40 AM ]

From Khalid Amayreh in the West Bank The Israeli occupation authorities on Monday released six Palestinian legislative council members who were abducted from their homes and offices nearly 42 months ago. The abduction was aimed at forcing Hamas to release an Israeli prisoner of war and also to rob Hamas of its election victory. The freed hostages include Ahmed Eton and Wael Husseini, both from al-Quds ( Jerusalem ), and Khalil Rabbaei, Samir al Qadi, and Maher Badr, from al-Khalil ( Hebron ) and Mahmoud al Khatib from Bethlehem . The six MPs are all affiliated with the pro-Hamas Change and Reform Bloc which won the 2006 legislative elections at the expense of the secular Fatah organization. On Sunday, the Israeli occupation authorities released Hatem Qafisha, another Islamic MP who had been languishing in Israeli detention camps for several years. With the release of the seven MPs, fifteen pro-Hamas legislative council members remain in Zionist custody. The longest-serving Islamic captive MP  is Nayef Rajoub who has been sentenced to 48 months in jail. The abduction of the MPs from their homes and offices is considered a crime pursuant international law. No concrete charges were ever leveled against the abductees who were accused of  “affiliation with a militant organization” and “taking part in an election under the rubric of a militant organization.” The 2006 elections had actually been okayed by Israel and the United States which had thought that Hamas wouldn’t win the elections. Israel had hoped the abduction of more than 45 pro-Hamas MPs, in utter violation of international law, would force the Islamic liberation movement (Hamas)  to release from its custody an Israeli occupation soldier taken prisoner during a military operation in the middle of 2006. Hamas refused to budge to the Israeli bullying, insisting that Israel must release a thousand Palestinian prisoners from its jails and dungeons in exchange for the Israeli prisoner. Israeli officials quoted by the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz on Monday  stressed that there was no connection between the release of the Islamic parliamentarians and the Shalit affair. The Palestinian Authority (PA) has prevented the reconvening of the Legislative Council, apparently fearing the council would take decisions or make moves the American-backed regime in Ramallah would view as harmful and inexpedient.

Eighteen members of Palestinian parliament remain in Israeli prisons, 7 soon to be released

31.10.09 - 20:54
Bethlehem / PNN – Seven Palestinian Legislative Council deputies who were arrested after winning the elections in the Change and Reform bloc are slated to be released from Israeli prisons early next month.
With the end of the sentences that were imposed by an Israeli military court, the parliamentarians should be able to return to their homes just as their terms in office come to a close. Arrested shortly after the PLC elections in 2005, the Hamas-linked deputies were never able to properly assume their positions.
After 42 months in prison, parliamentarian Hatem Qafisha from Hebron, Maher Badr, Mohammad Ismail Al Tal, Mahmoud Al Khatib from Bethlehem and Wa’el Husseini from Jerusalem, are among those who are slated for release.
For her part, PLC deputy and member of the International Campaign to Release Kidnapped Representatives, Huda Naim, said, “The continued detention of representatives is an indicator of unlawful interference in the political process. The message that is given to the citizen in any future election is that those elected by the people are threatened with arrest by the occupation forces.”
She added in this week’s comments, “The location for a legislator is in the parliament, not in a prison cell.”
In the same context Naim warned of arbitrary actions taken by the Israelis that include intimidation of voters and candidates alike that would lead to a fraudulent outcome in any future election.
“Continued detention is a heinous crime that requires the international community to take a decisive stand to pressure the Israeli occupation in the direction of the release of the House of Representatives,” PLC deputy Naim said.
Out of the tens that were arrested upon election, 15 PLC deputies from the Change and Reform bloc, including the Speaker, two from Fateh’s parliamentarian bloc, and one leftist remain in Israeli prisons.
The seven slated to be released are expected on 2 November.