PCHR Condemns Collective Penalties against Palestinian Prisoners in Israeli Jails

PCHR

Thursday, 06 October 2011 07:30

Ref: 100/2011

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) strongly condemns collective punishment measures being taken by the Israeli prison authorities against Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails who have organized a hunger strike in protest to their deteriorating detention conditions. PCHR is also concerned over the health conditions of the prisoners who have now been in an open hunger strike for nine consecutive days, as the Israeli prison authorities have refrained from providing medical care to them. PCHR calls upon the international community to exert pressure on Israel and compel it to respect international law, including ending the systematic cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons and detention centers. 

Palestinian and other Arab prisoners initiated a hunger strike, which has progressively extended to all Israeli prisons and detention facilities. First, prisoners from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) in Rimon and Nafha prison in Israel declared a hunger strike on 27 September 2011, demanding an end to the solitary confinement of 20 prisoners, some of whom have served more than 10 years in solitary confinement. They also demand an end to the three-year incommunicado detention of PFLP Secretary General, Ahmed Sa’adat. Later, prisoners in other prisons and detention facilities joined and organized a three day hunger strike. This move was expanded when prisoners declared an open hunger strike until their demands were met. Their demands include: ending the policy of solitary confinement; allowing graduate education; allowing family visitation - especially for Gazan prisoners who have been deprived of family visitation for more than five years; stopping the imposition of financial fines; stopping raids and humiliating checks of prisoners; refraining from tying the hands and feet of prisoners during family visitations or meetings with lawyers; and improving the health conditions of hundreds of sick prisoners and providing them with adequate medical care. 

However, the Israeli prison authorities have refused to meet these demands and have escalated collective punishment measures against prisoners. It has placed dozens of prisoners in solitary confinement and transferred leaders of political prisoners to sections of criminal prisoners, in an attempt to break the strike. Moreover, it has omitted to provide medical care to prisoners, including old ones, have refrained from having medicines and foods. According to prisoners, the Israeli prison authorities have initiated a series of sanctions against prisoners, including withholding salt, which prisoners take to maintain the salt balance in their bodies, and electronic devices such as televisions after they had already censored some Arab news channels. Additionally, Israeli troops waged a campaign of raids and searches in detention cells, and used tear gas against prisoners. A number of prisoners were injured.

These latest punitive measures are part of a series of measures that have been taken by the Israeli occupation authorities as an effective translation of instructions given by the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, in late June 2011, asking the Israeli prison authorities to limit “the privileges granted to Palestinian prisoners.” Since then, the Israeli prison authority has taken a series of measures against prisoners, including intensifying naked physical check of prisoners, and placing their leaders in incommunicado detention. In response, the prisoners have declared a series of protests against these measures and have organized a number of hunger strikes.

At least 6,000 Palestinians are currently detained in 22 Israeli prisons and detention facilities, most of which are inside Israel, in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, particularly Article 76, which stipulates that “Protected persons accused of offences shall be detained in the occupied country, and if convicted they shall serve their sentences therein.” These prisoners include 700 persons from the Gaza Strip (including 6 who have been detained according to the Illegitimate Combatant Code); 400 persons from Jerusalem and Arab areas within Israel; 251 children; and 37 women. They also include 307 prisoners who were arrested before the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993, including 126 persons who have served more than 20 years in prisons, 27 of whom have served more than 25 years in prison. Additionally, the group includes 214 prisoners who have been placed under administrative detention, and 20 members of the Palestinian Legislative Council, most of them from the Change and Reform Bloc affiliated to Hamas.

PCHR strongly condemns these collective penalties and measures of intimidation, which are prohibited under international law, particularly Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, and:

1- Calls upon the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment to present reports on the situation to the Human Rights Council to exert pressure on Israel to stop its practices against Palestinian prisoners.

2- Calls upon the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to intervene to stop collective penalties executed by the Israeli occupation authorities against Palestinian prisoners.

3- Calls upon international human rights organizations to follow up the issue of Palestinian prisoners and to intervene with their governments to pressurize the Israel to stop arbitrary measures against Palestinian prisoners and to ensure their release.

IPA Starts New Measures To Punish Detainees

Freed All Detainees - image paldf.net

Wednesday October 05, 2011 10:39 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

Israeli Maariv reported on Wednesday morning that the Israeli Prison Administration (IPA) has started a series of measures to increase pressure on the Palestinian detainees in an attempt to break their open-ended hunger strike.

The new measures include depriving the detainees of education, reducing the number of TV channels permitted, and withholding certain types of food formerly allowed.

The IPA decided that the detainees can watch only ten satellite TV channels: four Israeli channels (1, 2, 10, and 33), two Russian channels, and four Arabic channels. The Qatar-based news agency, Al Jazeera, was taken off the list.

Earlier this week Israeli soldiers attacked several prisons, searched detainees’ rooms, caused injuries to a number of detainees, and fired gas bombs in Nafha and Asqalan prisons. Soldiers also moved detainees from Shatta to Majiddo prison. Several detainees were put in solitary confinement.

Palestinian political prisoners in all Israeli prisons are demanding better living conditions, adequate medical care, and an end to solitary confinement policies and other violations of international law and the Fourth Geneva Convention.

Israeli Troops Break Into Asqalan, Nahfa Prisons

Tuesday October 04, 2011 09:43 by Saed Bannoura - 1 of International Middle East Media Center Editorial Group

In an attempt to prevent the detainees’ hunger strike from spreading to all Israeli prisons and detention facilities, undercover forces of the Israeli Army broke into the Asqalan and Nafha prisons.

File

Palestinian detainees in several Israeli prisons started their hunger strike seven days ago, demanding the internationally guaranteed rights of prisoners and an end to Israeli attacks and policies of solitary confinement.

The Waed Society for Detainees reported on Monday evening that the Matzada and Nahshon military forces in charge of all detention facilities broke into section 13 of Nafha prison.

In Asqalan, the army attacked detainees’ rooms after blacking them out, and fired dozens of gas bombs.

The Matzada forces also broke into.the rooms of old detainees, including the seriously ill detainee Akram Mansour, who suffers from a tumor and requires urgent attention. He recently started going in and out of coma, as he remains deprived of specialized medical treatment.

Also on Monday, in an attempt to break the hunger strike, the administration at the Ofer Prison forced nine detainees into solitary confinement.

The Waed Society identified the detainees who were placed in solitary confinement as Mohammad Issa, Nael Al Halaby, Ala’ Arar, Luay Arar, Mohammad Arar, Mohammad Zawahra, Saleh J’eidy, Yassin Farraj, and Ramzy Washha.

In another action intended to break the strike, soldiers moved all the Palestinian detainees in Shatta Prison to the Majiddo Prison.

Prison service raids Nafha jail cells

RAMALLAH (Ma’an) -- A representative of the Palestinian prisoners society said Tuesday after visiting Nafha prison that the Israeli prison’s administration raided a cell area during dawn prayers.

Forces searched the detainees "brutally" during the raid on section 11, room six, he said.

According to the rights group, detainees went on hunger strike even after breaking the fast because the prison service had agreed not to cause any "escalations" during the Muslim holy month.

The video of the attack at the Ketziot Prison shown in israeli channel 2

English Subtitles -- press CC

Israel's Channel 2 TV station released this video footage showing Palestinian detainees being treated as sub-human by Israeli troops in the regime's desert prison of Naqab (Negev)in 2007.

It shows the incitement of sleeping, unarmed Palestinian prisoners in the middle of the night by Israeli Masada Combats.

The prison commandor ordered this incitement to "increase the morale and motivation" of the regular prison guards.

During this assault by masked Israeli combatants, one Palestinian died and several others sustained injuries.


Watch and know that Israel's nauseating refrain that their police and army are "moral" is a big lie.

Since 1967, approximately 700,000 Palestinians have been arrested and detained under Israeli military orders. This number accounts for close to 20 percent of the population in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Report: More than 130 prison raids in 2010

[ 17/04/2011 - 05:36 PM ]

VIENNA, (PIC)-- A report by Vienna-based Friend of Humanity International documents that this year was ”not normal in the lives of Palestinian prisoners”, as the Israeli prison authority more than 130 cell raids on Palestinian prisoners this year alone. The report details human rights violations that took place in Israeli prisons throughout 2010. Its release was time to coincide with the Palestinian prisoner day observed on April 17. The report documents that special security units and soldiers sprayed gas and used fists and electric batons and isolated prisoners in a year rife with abuses. The entire population of prionsers was transferred that year from sector 5 to sector 3 in the Hadarim facility, the report reveals. The same incidence recurred around ten times in the Nafha prison, as soldiers searched for smuggled cell phones, prompting violent clashes with prisoners that eventually turned into crackdowns. The report says that female prison guards carried out humiliating and provocative strip searches on female prisoners as male soldiers watched.

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.

Dozens of prisoners injured in jailors' storming of their wards in Ofer

[ 30/12/2010 - 10:18 AM ]

RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- Special forces of the Israeli prison service known as the Nahshon stormed the Ofer military prison on Wednesday night, beat up prisoners, and fired gas bombs at them hurting dozens. Prisoners reported that more than eight of them suffered fractures and bruises as a result of the sudden storming operation and the beatings while tens suffered breathing problems. They said that the operation focused on ward 14 during which surprise searches were made using dogs in the process after forcing prisoners to strip. The prisoners in all wards of Ofer declared a state of alert as tensions ran high as a result of the storming operation. The Ofer jail includes two main buildings and ten wards in which more than 1,200 Palestinian prisoners are held. Eight Detainees Injured, Dozens Treated For Gaza Inhalation After Being Attacked By Soldiers Thursday December 30, 2010 09:00 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies Undercover Forces of the Nahshon Israeli Military Unit, broke on Wednesday at night into the Ofer Israeli military detention center, and attacked Palestinian detainees wounding eight while dozens suffered the effects of tear gas inhalation. Ofer During Previous Attack - File Eight Palestinian detainees suffered fractures and concussions after being violently assaulted by the soldiers who broke into their rooms, fully armored, fired gas bombs and attacked the detainees with batons and rifle-buts. Although soldiers broke into several sections at the detention facility, the main attack was focused on section 14 as the soldiers searched the rooms, and forced the detainees to undress under the pretext of searching them. The undercover forces also used dogs during the search but did not locate anything “unusual”. It is worth mentioning that Ofer prison includes two main buildings that consist of 10 sections where more than 12000 Palestinian detainees are held. Detainees in Ofer are mainly those who received administrative detention, orders in addition to those who were not sent to court, and the detainees who were sentenced by military courts but were not moved to other prisons.

Palestinian prisoners of Assabea to go on hunger strike in protest at violations

[ 27/12/2010 - 10:48 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- Ahrar center for the prisoners' studies and human rights said that the Palestinian prisoners in Assabea prison on Monday may go on hunger strike in protest at their inhumane incarceration conditions and the violations committed against them by the prison administration. Lawyer Mohamed Abdeen told Ahrar center on Sunday that over the past week, the prisoners refused to have many meals and warned the prison administration that they would take protest steps if it persisted in not answering their just demands. The lawyer who was able to visit prisoner Imad Al-Sharif, sentenced to life imprisonment, said that the administration of Assabea prison tightens the noose around prisoners and neither provide them with their basic needs nor let them to buy anything from the store inside the prison. The prisoners cannot run electric appliances because the electricity is very weak and the administration did not solve this problem, the lawyer affirmed, adding that they are also allowed to leave their rooms only for 50 minutes to stroll in a very small area. Director of Ahrar center Fouad Al-Khafsh appealed to international human rights organizations and the media outlets to highlight the issue of Palestinian prisoners and expose the violations committed against them by Israel. For its part, the Israeli prison authority decided on Sunday to suppress 250 Palestinian prisoners in the Negev prison and transfer them to a number of central jails. It intends to send troops from Nahshon unit to forcibly evacuate the sections of the prison after the prisoners expressed their rejection of this arbitrary decision. The Negev prisoners said they would take protest steps in response to the decision which violates the agreements reached with the Israeli prison administrations on the need to inform the prisoners about their transfer one week earlier. In a related context, the prisoners' center for studies reported that the Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails are exposed every year to more than 780 inspections and search raids by Israeli troops and jailers. The center affirmed that the military units specialized in inspections, some of them are known as Masada, Nahshon, and Dror, carry out every year about 60 violent search raids in every prison. Director of the center Rafat Hamdouna stated that the strip search is also one of the most problematic violations the prisoners are exposed to, especially during their transfer to another prison, court, or hospital. The Palestinian ministry of prisoners' affairs said in a report published by the Palestinian information center (PIC) that Israel is holding in its prison 36 Palestinian women in harsh imprisonment conditions. The ministry stated that the female prisoners are imprisoned in Damon and Hasharon prison and among them 13 women suffering from deliberate medical neglect. The health conditions of some female detainees are described as very serious.

800 Israeli troops raid flashpoint section of Nafha prison

[ 26/12/2010 - 04:42 PM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- 800 Israeli troops raided Sunday the 11 section of the Israeli Nafha prison, the Wa'id  prisoners society said, adding that the move was the most recent of a string of attacks amid rising administrative aggression in the facility. “During the night raid, the prisoners were directly assaulted and all 12 of the section's cells were emptied, and the detainees were taken to old, abandoned sections which are missing the bare necessities of life. They remained there for 48 hours, suffering the cold desert weather.” The Wa'id society called the attack unprecedented, adding that the nature of the attack, the equipment used, and the circumstances set a dangerous precedent. The society is calling on the Red Cross and all other rights groups to immediately intervene in putting a stop to violence against Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, saying that the danger that lies in such crimes is that they never reach the media in their true form. He also called on the media to make stronger efforts to expose the terrorist acts that transpire inside Israeli prisons.

IOF troops storm Negev prison, confiscate captives’ winter clothes

[ 24/12/2010 - 11:03 AM ]

Gaza, (PIC)-- The National Supreme Committee for supporting Palestinian captives in Israeli jails said on Thursday that the Israeli occupation troops stormed the Negev desert jail and wreaked havoc on it before confiscating coats and winter clothes of Palestinian captives there. Riyadh Al-Ashqar, the information officer of the committee, said in a statement he issued in this regard that the storming operation lasted for several hours where the jail guards backed by IOF troops assaulted the captives and confiscated their coats and dress they use for the biting winter season. The jail is located in the desert of Negev, which is known for its extreme cold climate during winter. According to Ashqar, the Israeli prison authority alleged that the captives own mobile phones and other communication devices, and that they videoed parts of the party they held in the prison to celebrate Hamas 23rd founding anniversary and distributed it to media outlets. He added that the IPA used such fabrications to transfer a number of the captives to different Israeli jails, accusing the Israeli occupation authority of deceiving the world by trying to show that Palestinian captives in Israeli jails live in luxury. "In fact, the IPA wants out of such allegations to suppress the captives further, to confiscate all the achievements they have made while in prison, to deny them their legal rights, to justify imposing fines on them, and to send them to solitary confinement", Ashqar pointed out. He urged all human right institutions to protect the captives against the "barbaric" Israeli occupation measures against them. Commenting on the matter, Palestinian lawmaker MP Salah Al-Bardaweel of the Hamas change and reform bloc described the Israeli storming of the prison as "criminal" and a form of the Israeli extortion of the Palestinian people. He also said in a statement he issued on Thursday that the practices of the Fatah militia against the Palestinian people and the political prisoners in Fatah jails in the West Bank have encouraged the Israeli occupation to escalate aggression against the Palestinian captives in Israeli occupation  jails. "It seems that they [the Israeli occupation and Fatah militia] are sharing the roles in blackmailing the Palestinian people and squeezing the Palestinian resistance", Bardaweel underlined. He also called on the Palestinian factions as well as human rights and institutions to consolidate efforts to protect the captives and to expose the Israeli crimes against them.

Palestinian prisoners in Ramon jail on hunger strike after repressive acts

[ 10/11/2010 - 11:31 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- Ahrar center for prisoners' studies and human rights said the Palestinian prisoners in Ramon jail went on hunger strike after the Israeli prison administration sent military units to storm some sections and took punitive measures against detainees. Director of the center Fouad Al-Khafsh stated that a large number of heavily armed soldiers from Matsada and Nahshon units broke into section five in the prison and rounded up head of the section Musa Al-Akkari and his deputy Akram Al-Qawasmi after provocatively searching them. Khafsh that the units afterwards transferred Akkari and Qawasmi to section three, while the prison administration imposed on section three what it calls the "behavioral punishment" and closed the section. When Ramon administration uses this kind of punishment, it prevents prisoners from leaving their sections and rooms and turns off electric power. The center director said that the prisoners refused these measures and repressive acts and announced they would go on hunger strike until the prison administration send Akkari and Qawasmi back to their section and end its behavioral punishment. He added that the real reason behind the prison administration's uproar was a bully Israeli officer inside the prison, where he cursed God in front of prisoners prompting prisoners to file a complaint against him with the administration and warning it that this officer's life would not be safe if he entered the sections again. Ramon prison is located on the Egyptian borders, and considered one of the notorious Israeli prisons in which the administration take severe punitive measures against detainees and deliberately harass them without reason. In another incident, the Palestinian prisoners in all Israeli jails said in a letter sent to the prisoner center for studies by their leadership that the prison administrations are still waging a fierce repressive attack against them. They added in the letter that the prison administrations deprived them of many rights and escalated its restrictions on them, especially regarding solitary conferment and family visits. They affirmed they would not hesitate to go on open hunger strike if the prison administrations persisted in its violations against them. For its part, Wa'ed society for detainees and ex-detainees deplored the Israeli unjust punitive measures taken against senior Hamas official Ra'fat Nasif in prison. Wa'ed warned that the deterioration of Nasif's health after he went on hunger strike in protest at these measures and his detention without guilt would lead to serious consequences in all Israeli jails, especially since Nasif is a popular figure and highly respected by all prisoners. It held the Israeli occupation authority fully responsible for Nasif's life and appealed to international human rights organizations to break their silence on Israel's violations against Palestinian prisoners and urgently intervene to have Nasif released from prison.

Nafha detainees gearing to go on hunger strike next week

[ 06/11/2010 - 10:07 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- Palestinian detainees in the Israeli Nafha prison are gearing to go on hunger strike next week in response to rising unfair treatment by the Israel Prison Service (IPS), the “Prisoners’ Supporters” organization in Gaza said, calling on the Red Cross and other rights organizations to intervene to protect those prisoners against unbearable conditions inside the facilities. The organization said in a statement it issued Friday that the IPS has been undertaking a campaign of constant raids and searches against prisoners with the ultimate goal of humiliating them and breaking their wills. The organization stressed that IPS practices conflict with international laws and standards, adding that further steps to support prisoners are under way. In the same context, senior Hamas official Raafat Nasif went on his eighth straight day of hunger strike to protest the prison administration’s brutal treatment of prisoners, detainees in the Israeli Megiddo prison informed the Center for Prisoners Studies. The prisoners added that Shadi Mohammed Jadullah Abu Al-Hussain, 34, of Khan Younis, who was sentenced to seven years in Israeli detention, has gone into his fourth day of fasting to demand his freedom after his sentence was completed in mid-August. Sources said he was being held for not having a Palestinian identity. In related developments, Israeli authorities are pushing for a new law depriving any Palestinian prisoner the right to meet with a lawyer for one year after his arrest. The current law allows prisoners lawyer visits 21 days after they are initially detained. Senior rights groups in Palestine condemned the bill, arguing that it will obstruct outsiders’ awareness of torture methods the IPS practices against prisoners, particularly during the investigation process, when signs of abuse on detainees can clearly be detected. Rights expert Riyadh Al Ashkar added that the bill, if passed, could make it difficult for lawyers to directly monitor the defendant’s case, thus not allowing for a proper defense. “This would allow for the IPS to single out the prisoner and impose the sentence it desires,” he said.

Soldiers Break Into Nafha Prison

Tuesday November 02, 2010 11:54 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

The Higher National Committee for Supporting the Detainees reported that Israeli soldiers, members of the Mitzada Unit at the Nafha detention center, broke on Tuesday at dawn into the detention facility and searched section 13 after forcing the detainees out of their beds and rooms.

Nafha Prison - Image Wattan News

Committee Media Director, Riyadh Al Ashqar, stated that the attack took place at four at dawn while the detainees were still sleeping, and that the soldiers violently woke the detainees up and forced them out of their rooms.

Soldiers then searched the rooms, and also searched the detainees who were rounded at the prison yard. The soldiers caused damage to the detainees’ property while ransacking their rooms.

Al Ashqar added that the soldiers damaged the walls of room number 64 after claiming that the detainees are hiding mobile phones that were smuggled into the prison compound.

He said that this is not the first time soldiers demolish walls on detainees rooms, especially in Nafha as the soldiers previously broke into rooms number 9 and 12 and placed the detainees in cells before demolishing two walls, removing the floor tiles and damaging the toilets.

The soldiers also claimed that the detainees are hiding mobile phones in their rooms but failed to locate any.

The Committee called on international human rights groups, especially the Red Cross, to intervene and protect the detainees as they are facing ongoing abuse and violations.

It also called for forming an international committee “to investigate crimes committed by the occupation against the detainees”.

Prisoners at Nafha prison go on hunger strike

[ 29/10/2010 - 09:33 PM ]

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Palestinian captives in the Nafha desert jail went on hunger strike to protest the campaign of harassment by the occupation prison authority against them, the latest incident of the campaign was last Saturday when all prison wards were raided and the prisoners were assaulted. Head of the Mandela Foundation that caters for Palestinian captives, Buthaina Duqmaq, said after visiting the jail that an atmosphere of anger is prevailing amongst the prisoners as a result of the surprise raids and searches carried out by the prison administration at all times, day or night. Captives told the lawyer that during these surprise raids and searches prisoners are taken out of their rooms and searched, rooms are ransacked, prisoners' belongings are damaged and even copies of the Quran are opened and searched. Duqmaq further said that on her visit to the jail on Friday the prison administration carried out a search despite the captives' protests. Duqmaq further reported that the prison administration moved the two Hamas leaders, Yahya al-Senwar and Muhammad Dukhan to Eshel prison and said that Dukhan was brought from Hadarim to Nafha prison two weeks ago, adding that Muhammad Nayfa Abu Rabiaa was also moved to the Nafha desert prison.

Nafha prisoners go on warning hunger strike

[ 24/10/2010 - 04:00 PM ]

RAMALLAH / JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Inmates in the Israeli Nafha prison went on a warning hunger strike on Saturday for one day in cooperation with all of the political persuasions in the prison, rights groups in Palestine said. Sources said the strike was in protest of recent recurring night raids carried out by the prison administration on prisoners’ cells and the prison’s solitary confinement policy, and  to improve poor jail conditions. The Prisoners’ Supporters organization quoted one prison leader there as saying that the strike was a warning message to the general directorate of the prison to change its policies against prisoners, stop abuse, and improve conditions. “The conditions in the prisons are in a state of turmoil… The Palestinian community must move with its political and social components to stand by its war prisoners,” said Ramzi Al Najjar, vice president of the Prisoners' Supporters organization. In other developments, Sunday marks nine years of detention for Ibtesam Mohammed Issawi, the Tadhamon (Solidarity) Foundation for Human Rights said. Tadhamon researcher Ahmed Al Beitawi said Isssawi was taken by police from her home in Jebel Al Mobakkir near Jerusalem on Oct. 24, 2001 and was then transferred to several interrogation centers before being sentenced to 15 years in prison on charges of resisting Israeli occupation. Issawi’s parents are living in Jordan and have been prohibited from visiting her since the first day of her detention. The Israeli prison authority has denied several requests by her to talk to her parents on the phone. Issawi, who languishes in the Damon prison, is a wife and mother of six children. Three women from Jerusalem remain in Israeli jails. They have been identified as: Sina Mohammed Shahada, who is serving 3 life sentences and 30 years, Nada Ata Dirbas, who faces 6 years, and Sabirin Ismail Meshaal.

Prisoner committee appeals for allowing doctors to visit patient in Israeli jail

[ 25/10/2010 - 10:38 AM ]

JENIN, (PIC)-- The Palestinian prisoner committee appealed to all concerned organizations to pressure Israel to allow a specialist doctor to have access to patient Munir Hussein who lost his ability to walk normally due to an unknown illness. The committee stated Sunday that the Negev prison administration refused to conduct medical tests on Hussein to identify his health problem. The prisoner told the lawyer who was sent by the committee to visit him that two years ago, he started to complain of severe pain in his feet, but the prison administration as usual did not care until further complications affected his feet in particular and his health in general. He added that whenever his health seriously deteriorates and is sent to the infirmary, the doctors there refuse to perform medical tests on him and make do with providing him with painkillers. The committee expressed its deep concern over the life of the prisoner, affirming that he is being slowly killed by the Negev prison administration. For its part, Mandela institute for human rights and political prisoners said that the lives of many Palestinian prisoners in Ohlikdar solitary prison are in grave danger and their difficult incarceration conditions are hidden from the media. In a report issued Sunday, representative of Mandela institute Buthaina Duqmaq said she met with prisoner Ahed Abu Ghalma who was transferred to his isolation cell from Jericho prison in March 2006 and now he is serving a life sentence in addition to five years. The prisoner told Duqmaq that many of the prisoners who are in solitary confinement in this prison are exposed to maltreatment and suffer from psychological problems. He cited as an example what happened to isolated prisoner Mansour Al-Shahatit who was tied up from his legs and hands for two days because he only asked one of the wardens to bring him something. Abu Ghalma also said that the prison administration ignores the deteriorating health condition of Shahatit and refuses to provide him with any medical treatment. In another incident, Palestinian sources from inside Ramon prison reported that the Israeli Dror unit used to suppress Palestinian prisoners intensified its attacks against the detainees during this month, especially in rooms number 68, 69 and 70. The sources added that more than 40 soldiers of this unit stormed these rooms many times during the month, dismantled doors, windows and cupboards, tampered with the prisoners' personal belongings and removed tiles and manhole covers in bathrooms at the pretext of searching for banned stuff. The search raids started from 10 o'clock in the morning till six pm and the soldiers also used electronic devices to detect what they were looking for.  The prison administration issued punitive measures against a number of prisoners and deprived many of them from going out of their solitary cells to spend their leisure time, according to the sources.

Palestinian prisoners in Negev complain of their incarceration conditions

[ 24/10/2010 - 11:14 AM ]

NEGEV, (PIC)-- Palestinian prisoners in the Israeli desert prison Negev have complained of their incarceration conditions after the Israeli prison administration tightened its repressive measures against them. In a message leaked out of jail on Saturday, the prisoners said that the administration serves them poor quantity meals and impure water in addition to blocking entry of new clothes for them. They also complained of poor medical treatment, adding that prison doctors treat all health complaints with the Acamol pill only as if it was the magic medication for all illnesses. The prisoners said that the prison jailors daily storm their wards under trivial security pretexts just to destabilize them. They said that they suffer scorching heat in summer and severe cold in winter, adding that they mostly fear the proximity of the Dimona nuclear reactor and the possibility of developing cancer as a result in future.

Palestinian Female Prisoners and the Struggle for Freedom

Qassam

 

by reham alhelsi

Palestinian women have always stood side by side with their fathers, brothers, husbands, comrades to resist the Zionist occupation, to fight for freedom and legitimate rights. They are the first to go to the streets to protest the brutality of the Israeli military occupation, the first to organize sit-ins and marches demanding the release of their children, brothers and fathers from Israeli prisons. They are the protectors, the supporters, but most of all they are the comrades in the fight for a free Palestine.

They protect their children, fathers, brothers and husbands from the Zionist invader come to kidnap, beat or kill. They support their families when their fathers, brothers or husbands are imprisoned or killed by the Israeli terrorist troops. They embrace the land and kiss the olive tree. They pave the way for resistance and shape it with their blood. They are the olive tree steadfast in the face of usurpers in Nablus, Jenin, Bethlehem and Al-Jalil. They are the poppy decorating Palestinian hilltops in Jerusalem, Hebron and Safad.

They are the butterflies kissing the fields of Hebron, Jenin and Bisan. They are the fresh breeze of Haifa, Yaffa, Acca and Gaza. They are the stone, powerful, strong and only taking leave of the soil to hit the usurper in the face. They are the daughters of Palestine; fearless, steadfast, patient. They are the mother, the sister, the daughter and the comrade of the martyr, the freedom-fighter and the prisoner. They are the martyr, the freedom-fighter and the prisoner.

They are the guardians of the revolution and the symbol of steadfastness. They are Palestine embracing its children, protecting them and leading them. Since 1967 more than 800,000 Palestinians, including 15,000 Palestinian women, were detained by the Zionist entity. During the First Intifada 3000 women were detained and during Al-Aqsa Intifada more than 900 women were locked up behind Israeli bars. There are daily raids and detentions.

Sometimes the detained are released after a few days, after a few weeks or remain in detention indefinitely. Alone in June 2010 some 334 Palestinians were detained, including 4 women. Currently, there are 36 Palestinian female prisoners in the Israeli prisons Damon, HaSharon and Neve Tirza: 4 from Jerusalem, 3 from the Palestinian area occupied in 1948, 28 from the West Bank and 1 from the Gaza Strip. 6 of the prisoners await trial, 3 are administrative detainees, 27 are sentenced; of whom 5 are serving life sentences.

Palestinian female detainees, like their brothers in detention, suffer from the brutality of the Israeli Prison Authority. They are exposed to abuse, humiliation and are subjected to more than 20 forms of violations. They are tortured, beaten, harassed, insulted, tied up for hours under hot sun or under rain, deprived of sleep, isolated, punished with high fines for no reason, subjected to the continuous use of tear gas in their cells, continuously denied family visits and calls back home and letters are sent or distributed only once every 3 months.

They are also subjected to harsh and humiliating midnight raids and body searches. On 24.06.2010 Israeli special forces (Golan) in the Damon prison broke into the cells of Palestinian female prisoners in the early morning, assaulted the prisoners, searched the cells and forced them to undress, to sit in a humiliating squatting position for 4 hours under the pretext of inspection.

Also, Israeli prison authority prevents Palestinian female prisoners from acquiring more than one book, doesn’t allow them to send out or get in any embroidery work or magazines and decides the number of clothing pieces each prisoner is allowed to possess. The cells are small, over-crowded, damp, lack hygiene, no sun or fresh air enters them and they are infested with insects and mice. They are cold in winter and hot in summer. Because Palestinian female prisoners aren’t allowed to receive any items from their families, they are forced to buy what they need from the prison canteens. Water is very dirty and undrinkable and food is inedible, forcing the detainees to buy their food and water from the prison canteen for very high prices.

Not only are the prices there extremely high, the canteen also lacks many items Palestinian prisoners need. Some political prisoners are also locked up with Israeli criminals who abuse them regularly while Israeli prison forces watch. One method of punishment favored by Israeli prison forces is reducing family visitation from 45 minutes to 15 minutes, or cancelling all visitations despite the hardships the families endure to reach the prisons. Du’a’ Al-Jayyousi from Tulkarim was detained in 2002. Her only brother isn’t allowed to visit her, and when he got married, the prison authority refused to allow her to phone him.

Soldiers Break Into Nafha Prison

Tuesday October 05, 2010 04:29 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

Israeli soldiers broke on Monday evening into the Nafha Prison and searched the rooms of the detainees causing damage. The attack led to tension in the prison camp especially after the soldiers forced the detainees out of their rooms.

File - Nafha Prison

The Wa’ed Society for Detainees reported that the attack was carried out by the (Mitzada) Special Forces of the Israeli Prison Administration.

The society stated that the soldiers broke into Section 14 at the Nafha Prison, and violently forced the detainees out of their rooms before searching the rooms and confiscating electric equipment.

Soldiers also lined the detainees up while searching their room leading to further tension between them and the soldiers.

The society stated that the attack is one of many attacks carried out against the detainees, and warned that such attacks could lead to clashes with the soldiers.

It called on the International Red Cross to intervene and to protect the detainees by obliging Israel to implement the Fourth Geneva Convention and other related resolutions regarding the rights of prisoners of war.

The detainees in Nafha prison said that Israeli soldiers are responsible for repeated attacks against them, and warned of the consequences of such attacks.

Two weeks ago, soldiers broke into the Nafha prison, placed several detainees in solitary confinement and attacked dozens of detainees with baton and tear gas.

The Wa’ed Society reported that its is concerned by the ongoing escalation against the detainees, and that the detainees will be declaring a series of measures, likely hunger strikes, should the attacks against them continue.