Palestinian engineer who disappeared in the Ukraine is at an occupation jail

[ 11/03/2011 - 09:46 PM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- Human rights sources have revealed that  Palestinian engineer Dirar Abu Seesi who disappeared last month in the Ukraine is detained in an Israeli occupation jail. This announcement coincided with the announcement of the Ukrainian government that it was opening an investigation into the disappearance of Seesi. Dirar Abu Seesi, chief operating officer of the Gaza Strip's power station, who was on a visit to the Ukraine disappeared during a train journey from the east Ukrainian city of Kharkov to the capital Kiev to meet his brother Yousef who was flying from Holland to see his brother whom he did not see in 15 years. Seesi’s wife Aqila immediately accused the Mossad of being behind the disappearance of her husband, who disappeared on 18 February 2011. Those suspensions were confirmed when an Israeli lawyer succeeded in visiting Seesi at the Askalan prison. The sources also said that the Mossad transferred Seesi to occupied Palestine one day after his abduction from the train. This revelation coincided with the announcement by the Ukrainian government about opening an inquiry into the disappearance of Seesi. Fathi Hammad, minister of interior in Haneyya’s government, had contacted his Ukrainian counterpart General Anatoliy Mohyliov asking him to investigate the disappearance of Seesi.

Abbas Al-Sayyed goes on hunger strike in Israeli jail

[ 11/03/2011 - 03:08 PM ]

TULKAREM, (PIC)-- Abbas Al-Sayyed, commander of the Qassam Brigades in Tulkarem who is serving 36 life- imprisonment terms in the Israeli Rimon jail, has decided to go on hunger strike protesting incarceration conditions in jail, his wife said. According to his wife Ikhlas Al-Sayyed, Abbas was punished by the Israeli occupation authorities after the statements he made to Al-Jazeera satellite TV channel during his appeal hearing in n Israeli court two weeks ago. "My husband was placed in underground solitary confinement, and the Israeli jailors confiscated all his possessions, leaving him for few days there before sending him back to the solitary conferment in the Rimon jail where he spent one year isolated till now, prompting him to go on hunger strike till he is released from the solitary confinement" she added. She appealed to all human rights and legal institutions to help end the ordeal of her husband and to pressure the Israeli occupation authorities allow him family visit, noting that he was denied family visit for more than one year now.

The Etzion prison administration forces captives out in the cold

[ 11/03/2011 - 12:39 PM ]

File photo of Palestinian captives

AL-KHALIL, (PIC)-- Dr. Azzam Salhab, member of the PLC said, through his lawyer, that the administration of the Etzion prison forced captives to stay outside in the cold in their underwear. He told Jaclyn Fararjeh,a lawyer working with the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS),  that prison officers forced the captives out into the prison yards in their underwear and made them stay there for several hours as a punishment for them because they refused to take their dinner. Palestinian captives held there have recently announced a hunger strike in protest of inhumane treatment at the facility, especially the refusal of the prison administration to allow blankets and clothes to be brought to the prisoners and the poor quality and quantity of food provided to the prisoners. The PPS further said that conditions at the Nafha desert prison are extremely harsh and that the prison administration continues to punish the captives by strip searching them,  surprise raids on their cells and refusal to provide treatment for sick captives. The PPS emphasised in its statement that the are a number of captives there who need immediate medical attention, some of them have been waiting for years to get treatment and their situation is worsening all the time.

Islamic Jihad leader released from prison

JENIN (Ma'an) -- Israeli authorities released a leader of the Islamic Jihad movement in the West Bank, Bassam As-Sa’di, from Jenin refugee camp after being imprisoned for eight years in the Israeli jails.

Mahmoud As-Sa’di, one of the movement’s leaders in the West Bank, told Ma’an that “Bassam was released after receiving a decision from the administration of the Israeli prison of the Negev on Thursday."

He noted that Bassam was received of leaders and members of Islamic Jihad upon arriving to Hebron en route to his home in Jenin, where he will be received by parliament members and national and Islamic factions.

IOA holds MP Salhab in administrative detention

[ 10/03/2011 - 09:28 AM ]

AL-KHALIL, (PIC)-- The Israeli Ofer court on Wednesday sentenced Palestinian MP Dr. Azzam Salhab to six months administrative detention without his presence in court, his family said. They told the PIC reporter that the Israeli occupation authority (IOA) told Salhab that he would be sentenced to administrative custody during his detention in Etzion a couple of days ago and was not transferred to Ofer to attend the summary court hearing. They added that his lawyer Anwar Abu Amr said that the court told him of the sentence in the absence of Salhab and the lawyer himself. The IOA arrested the lawmaker a week ago while on his way back home from Nablus where he was visiting a friend to console him over the death of his father. The international campaign for the release of Palestinian deputies in IOA jails condemned the ruling in a statement on Wednesday night. It said that the IOA was not content with unlawfully kidnapping Palestinian MPs but was also subjecting them to summary trials. The IOA has re-detained eight Hamas MPs, who were released from earlier administrative detention, over the past few weeks and ordered them administratively held anew. The campaign called on world parliaments to put an end to Israel's violation of the parliamentary immunity of those MPs and to force it to respect the international law and human rights principles.

European rights groups to hold Friday Palestinian POW talks at UN in Geneva

[ 09/03/2011 - 06:19 PM ]

GENEVA, (PIC)-- The first International Conference for the Rights of Palestinian Prisoners and Detainees will be held this Friday and Saturday at the UN headquarters in Geneva. The conference dubbed ”Working for Justice” was organized by the Oslo-based European Network to Support the Rights of Palestinian Prisoners and the Swiss Right For All group and will be attended by Western and Palestinian politicians, rights groups and prisoners themselves. They will hold roundtable talks discussing the conditions of Palestinians held in Israeli occupation jails. The events will be kicked off by live testimonies from Palestinian war prisoners and their families. Day two will be used to discuss the effects detention has had on male and female detainees and the political dynamics of prisoner issues. The first ever Palestinian POW conference held in the symbolic Geneva where international conventions were signed will include Nurhayati Ali Assegaf, President of the inter-Parliamentary Union to the UN, Raed Salah, the northern branch leader of the Islamic Movement in Israel, and many more.

Ministry of prisoners appreciates Ban Ki-moon's statement

[ 09/03/2011 - 02:45 PM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- The ministry of prisoners affairs has welcomed the statement by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in which he called on Israel to free all Palestinian prisoners. Mohammed Al-Katari, the ministry's undersecretary, said on Wednesday that Ki-moon's statement was a step in the right direction, although it was late. He said that the statement was important since it was voiced by a renowned and symbolic international figure, however it needs follow up and pressures in order to materialize. The world has finally come to realize that there were Palestinian prisoners suffering pain and slow death in Israeli jails and shy voices started to surface every now and then calling for the release of those prisoners, Katari said. The undersecretary charged that the world community's silence toward Israel's crimes against those prisoners had encouraged it to persist in its crimes and violation of international norms and agreements. Katari asked the world community to be neutral and to demand the release of Palestinian prisoners as it is demanding the release of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

133 Palestinians held in Israel's jails for over 20 years

GAZA (Ma'an) -- Gaza's Ministry of Detainees reported Monday that the number of prisoners held in Israeli jails for over two decades has increased to 133.

Ministry spokesman Riyad Al-Ashkar said 39-year-old Imad Al-Masri entered his 21st year in Israeli detention on Monday.

Al-Masri, from Tubas, was detained in March 1991 and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Al-Ashkar said Al-Masri had been in solitary confinement at Ramon jail for over seven months.

He has suffered from severe back pain and headaches for several years but Israeli prison authorities have denied him treatment, his lawyer said.

After many appeals, Al-Masri was taken to a prison hospital for x-rays, but he was never given the results or offered treatment, his lawyer added.

Israeli authorities will not allow the detainee visitors, and his mother recently died without seeing him, Al-Ashkar said.

Al-Masri's father is now seriously ill but Israeli authorities refuse to grant him a visitor's permit to see his son, the ministry official said.

Family says Egypt security executed Yousif Abu Zuhri

Relatives of Yousef Abu Zuhri mourn during his funeral in Rafah in the southern
Gaza Strip, October 14, 2009. Abu Zuhri died in an Egyptian prison where he
was held for entering Egypt illegally. His family says the young man died after
being tortured by Egyptian State Security. [MaanImages/Hatem Omar]


GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- The Abu Zuhri family on Tuesday accused Egyptian State Security of executing Yousif Abu Zuhri, brother of a Hamas spokesman, in October 2009.

At a press conference in Gaza City, family members said they had received new information from two Gaza residents recently released from Egyptian prisons.

The former detainees said Yousif Abu Zuhri was brought to the interrogation center in Egypt's Nasr City where they were being held. On October 10 2009, interrogators tortured Abu Zuhri with electric shocks for an hour until he died, the ex-prisoners said,

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said his brother did not die of ill health as claimed by Egyptian security at the time, but was rather tortured to death.

"The recent testimonies revealed all ambiguities about the martyrdom of Yousif Abu Zuhri," he said.

Israel’s release of Palestinian political prisoners could boost peace prospects – Ban

 UN news center

7 March 2011 – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called for urgently addressing the plight of the thousands of Palestinian political prisoners detained by Israel, saying it is an important issue in the search for a just and lasting peace between the two sides. When Mr. Ban visited the occupied Palestinian territory and Israel a year ago, he had expressed concerns about the Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli detention facilities, and publicly urged Israel to release prisoners as called for by the Palestinian Authority.
“Such a release would serve as a significant confidence-building measure,” he stated today in a message to the United Nations International Meeting on the Question of Palestine that opened in Vienna, adding the world body will continue to raise the issue with the Israeli leadership.
Nearly 100 representatives of Governments, parliaments, intergovernmental organizations, lawyers, civil society and UN agencies are taking part in the two-day meeting, whose theme is “The urgency of addressing the plight of Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli prisons and detention facilities.”
In his message – which was delivered by Maxwell Gaylard, Deputy UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territory – Mr. Ban said the UN continues to follow closely the well-being of those in detention, including some 200 minors and 200 individuals held in administrative detention without trial.
He also noted with concern that elected Palestinian representatives have been detained by Israel, and that even after their release, three from East Jerusalem are under threat of forcible transfer and are residing at the Red Cross premises, while another has been deported to Ramallah.
“The United Nations opposes measures of forcible transfer and remains engaged on this issue, which has broader implications for the human rights of Palestinian East Jerusalemites,” he stated.
The Secretary-General also reiterated the calls of the UN for humanitarian access to be granted to Israeli Staff Sergeant Gilat Shalit, who has been held captive by Palestinian militants for over four years, and for his release.
“Momentous changes are sweeping the region, and it is deeply frustrating that efforts to achieve Israeli-Palestinian peace remain at an impasse,” the Secretary-General said, adding that among the main obstacles are settlements, which are illegal and contrary to the Road Map peace plan that seeks to establish a two-State solution of Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace and security within recognized borders.
“It remains Israel’s obligation to freeze settlement activity,” he said, calling on the international community to intensify efforts to help the parties overcome the current obstacles and achieve a comprehensive, just and lasting peace.

Israel arrests mentally ill woman from Beit Fajjar

[ 05/03/2011 - 08:57 AM ]

AL-KHALIL, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces arrested Friday evening a Palestinian young woman from Beit Fajjar north of Al-Khalil for allegedly attempting to stab an Israeli soldier. According to the woman's family, the Israeli army has arrested Amal Jamal Taqatiqa, 19, near the Etzion crossroads in eastern Beit Fajjar claiming she attempted to stab a soldier. The family submitted reports confirming Taqatiqa's mental illness to the Israeli Bethlehem liaison office seeking her release. But authorities are keeping her in custody.

Ghoul: Thousands of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails facing slow death

[ 05/03/2011 - 07:02 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- Palestinian minister of prisoners' affairs Mohammed Al-Ghoul has said that Palestinian prisoners in Israeli occupation authority (IOA) jails were constantly persecuted and harassed by the prison administrations. He told the PIC in an interview on Friday that the lives of those prisoners in IOA jails have turned into hell, as the IOA prison administrations invent new methods to deprive them of their simplest human rights. The minister said that the IOA was depriving more than 1500 sick prisoners from necessary treatment in what he described as deliberate medical neglect, adding that those prisoners were facing slow death. The IOA denies family visits to thousands of prisoners in flagrant violation of the fourth Geneva Convention, which allows monthly and periodical visits, Ghoul said. He also pointed to the continued detention of 12 elected MPs without any consideration to their status and parliamentary immunity.

Occupation soldiers storm Eishel prison, wreaks havoc on captives belongings

[ 04/03/2011 - 07:08 PM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- Riyadh Al-Ashqar, the information officer in the PA captives and ex-captives ministry in Gaza Strip, said that dozens of Israeli special forces stormed the Eishel jail in Bir Shiva and wreaked havoc on the captives' belongings. In press statement he issued on Thursday, Ashqar accused the Israeli occupation soldiers of deliberately humiliating the Palestinian captives after three teams of fully-geared soldiers violently forced the captives out of their detention cells and searched them for "hidden" mobile phones and other communication means. "At least seven rooms of Hamas captives and one room of the Islamic Jihad captives were stormed by the Israeli occupation soldiers on Tuesday morning and continued for 32 hours till Wednesday afternoon provoking the captives and leaving big damage on their belongings and personal foodstuff", Ashqar pointed out. The ministry, in this regard, appealed to all concerned human rights and legal agencies in the United Nations and in the rest of the world to put an end to the repressive Israeli practices against the Palestinian captives, stressing that such practices violate international laws and statutes.

9 Palestinians return to Gaza from Egypt jail

Published Friday 04/03/2011 (updated) 04/03/2011 20:46

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Nine Palestinians arrived in the Gaza Strip on Thursday after being released from Egyptian jails, locals said.

Two of the freed men were identified as Abdallah Abu Raya and Nedal Hamada, affiliates of the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, the Al-Quds Brigades.

Egyptian authorities released 12 Palestinians from the Al-Aqrab prison on Thursday, a spokesman for the families of the detained said.

Over 20 Palestinians in the jail began a hunger strike in mid-February demanding their release, after a decision to free them was revoked by Egyptian authorities.

There are an additional 32 Palestinians who remain in Egyptian custody, according to families who have been in touch with the prisoners.

A prisoners' committee urged Egypt's high military council to free the remaining Palestinians, some of whom have been detained for many years despite receiving court orders for their release.

At least eight Palestinian prisoners escaped from Egypt's jails and returned to Gaza during the uprising which overthrew leader Hosni Mubarak.

In mid-February, Egyptian authorities released 14 Palestinian prisoners, a detainees affairs official said.

Egyptian army release 12 Palestinian political prisoners

[ 04/03/2011 - 12:41 PM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- Imad al-Sayyed, spokesman for the families of Palestinian political prisoners in Egyptian jails, said that the Egyptian army has released on Thursday morning 12 of those prisoners. In a special statement to PIC Sayyed said that the twelve prisoners were released from the notorious Aqrab prison and called on the ruling military council in Egypt to release the rest of the Palestinian political prisoners who remain in jail and who number more than 30. For its part, the Arab Organisation for Human Rights in UK (AOHRUK) thanked the military council in Egypt for the release of those prisoner, some of whom spent more than four  years in captivity. AOHRUK further said that there is still a large number of Palestinian political prisoners remain in Egyptian jails, stressing that there are at least 32 such prisoners and called on the ruling military council to clear the jails of those prisoners and indeed of all political prisoners as demanded by those who participated in the January 25 revolution. The organisation also thanked al-Jazeera satellite channel for the part it played in highlighting the plight of those political prisoners and their families which has paved the way for there release. The released prisoners arrived at the Rafah crossing on Thursday evening on their way to the Gaza Strip. --------------- Egypt releases 12 Palestinian detainees Published Thursday 03/03/2011 (updated) 04/03/2011 09:37 GAZA CITY (Ma’an) -- Egyptian authorities released 12 Palestinians from the Al-Aqrab prison on Thursday, a spokesman for the families of the detained said, adding that all were en route to the Rafah crossing. According to families in Gaza, who have been in touch with the prisoners, there are an additional 32 men who remain in Egyptian custody. Many were detained during the 2007 destruction of the Gaza-Egypt border wall, which saw Gaza residents flood into Egypt to purchase supplies after more than a year under a strict Israeli blockade. Others were detained at the Rafah border crossing, and some on allegations of criminal charges. Spokesman of the families of the released men Imad As-Sayyed, said it was not known when the men would return to Gaza, but said he had been assured that they were en route. The remaining cases, he added, had been taken up by a London-based rights group, which was seeking their release.