Israeli prison administration forces women prisoners to wear orange costume

[ 19/04/2011 - 02:53 PM ]

RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- The Israeli administraiton of Hasharon jail forced Palestinian women prisoners to wear orange uniforms while heading to courts and confiscated food and covers in their possession. The Palestinian prisoner association said in a statement on Tuesday that the prison administration also prevented the prisoners from taking any papers with them when they meet lawyers even if they were legal papers such as the indictment lists or plain papers and pens. Fawzi Shalloudi, a lawyer with the association, said after visiting those prisoners that the administration had imposed new sanctions on them since Sunday. He added that the sanctions followed the prisoners' step of refusing meals, adding that they included rejecting all requests by the prisoners in the current month of April and reducing the time for their daily stroll outside their cells. The Israeli occupation authority is holding 37 Palestinian women in its jails, 19 in Hasharon and 18 in Damon jail. Female detainees at Hasharon prison 'punished'   Published today (updated) 21/04/2011 13:59   BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) – Lawyer Fawzi Shludi reported Tuesday that the administration at Hasharon prison imposed punishments on female detainees after they refused to eat. Prison staff restricted access to recreation time due to the hunger strike, the attorney said, which is protesting Israeli authorities refusal to allow the women to wear traditional garments in court. The women have been forced to wear orange jumpsuits while in court and are prohibited from holding paper or pens when they meet with their lawyer, according to Shludi.

Human rights group issues report on Palestinian prisoners' reality in Israeli jails

Vienna, April 5, 2010 (Pal Telegraph)- Friends of Humanity International issued on Saturday "Behind the Sun"-- a detailed report describing the Palestinian prisoners’ reality in Israeli jails during 2009, confirming that 2009 was exceptionally one of the worst years: Israeli prison administration practiced new methods against them, to increase both the psychological and physical pressure  on them and continue locking them up in an exceedingly difficult environment, with the aim of rendering them soulless bodies, to guarantee they cannot live afterward. The Israeli Prison Service (IPS) also sought to destroy the Palestinian prisoner’s psyche, affecting his family as well, through oppressive policies such as preventing families from visiting their jailed relatives for very long periods of time.

The human rights group said that the Palestinian prisoners are still setting rare examples throughout humanity history, in terms of patience and endurance; where under tragic circumstances, tens of thousands of the Palestinian prisoners were forced to undergo months under torture and whips of occupation executioners in the dungeons of investigation, that they have long suffered years of oppression at the hands of prison guards and Shabas. The prisoner‘s ability to withstand these conditions and survive is a great meaning in the course of defending the right to life.

The organization pointed out that the number of prisoners in Israeli occupation jails has reached 7286 male and female prisoners over the past year, of whom 36 are females, as well as 20 ministers and deputies, in addition to 250 children under the age of 18, whose detention has been accordingly prohibited by laws. Occupation authorities also arrested 319 prisoners since before the Oslo peace accords signed by the Palestinian and Israeli sides in 1993, known as long-term prisoners (old prisoners), 115 of whom have now been held for more than twenty years, including three prisoners now being held for more than thirty years: Nael Al-Barghouthi, Fakhry Al-Barghouthi and Akram Mansour.

Because Israeli occupation authorities refuse to release them in prisoner exchange deals with the Palestinians, the focus of this report is on the Palestinian prisoners, originally from Jerusalem and areas beyond the Green Line, who have continued to be marginalized by Israeli occupation authorities. Last year’s statistics showed that the number of both sexes Jerusalemite prisoners was 273. The Palestinian captive Fuad Al-Razim from Silwan neighborhood in the occupied Jerusalem is considered the dean of Jerusalemite prisoners, arrested 29 years ago. The number of Jerusalemites who died in Israeli prisons was 14, the first of whom was Qasim Abdullah Abu Aker, died in 1969 as a result of torture during interrogation in the prison "Al Maskoubiya". The last one was captive Joma’a Keyalah, who died nearly a year ago, after having spent 13 years in Al Ramlah prison hospital.

According to the organization, there are 31 Jerusalemite prisoners; some of them sets of brothers, inside Israeli jails who are still suffering bitter conditions. Among those prisoners are 3 brothers--Mousa, Khalil and Ibrahim Sarahneh who have been sentenced to life imprisonment since 2002. Regarding solitary confinement prisoners, there are two of them, both from Jerusalem: Abed Al-Naser Al-Hulaissi who has been isolated for more than 13 years, and Mo‘taz Hijazi, isolated for nine years. There is also Jerusalemite deputy-prisoner Mohammed Abu Teir, who spent more than 25 years in Israeli jails.

According to the human rights organization “Friends of Humanity”, there are four Jerusalemite females prisoners in Israeli jails: Ibtisam Issawi, resident of Jabel Al-Mukaber and sentenced to 14 years; Amna Mona, the oldest female prisoner, resident of the Old City, and is sentenced to life imprisonment; Sana‘a Shehadeh, a resident of Qalandia refugee camp, also sentenced to life imprisonment; and finally captive Nada Derbas, resident of Issawiya town and received a 4-year sentence.

Presenting the conditions of Jerusalem’s prisoners, the organization recalled the sixty-year-and-a-half-year-old Ali Hassan Abed Rabu Shallaldah, the eldest among prisoners from the occupied Jerusalem, held prisoner for 19 years and is currently serving a sentence of 25 years. He has 12 children, 8 of whom got married while he was languishing in captivity.

The organization stated that Wael Mahmoud Qassem, from Silwan town in the occupied east Jerusalem, received the longest ever sentence of a total of 35 life sentences in prison in addition to 50 years. He is married with four children. Brothers Ramadan and Fahmi Mashahreh have been sentenced to 20 life sentences. Israeli occupation forces also demolished their homes. The organization also named the two Jerusalemite prisoners Dr. Abed Al-aziz Amro and Alaa Al-Din Al-Bazian, both sentenced to life imprisonment.

For the Palestinian female prisoners, the human rights organization asserted that 36 Palestinian women are in Israeli jails toiling in harsh conditions, 27 of whom from the West Bank, 4 from Jerusalem, 4 from Palestinian areas inside the Green Line, and only one from the Gaza Strip. Also, there are five mothers along with sons in detention, with sentences ranging from 13 to 3 life sentences and thirty years. Their names are: Irena Poly Sarahneh, a mother of two daughters; Ibtisam Abdul Hafiz, with six sons; Qahera Said Al-Saadi, with four children; Iman Mohammed Gazzawi, a mother of two; and finally Latifa Mohammed Abu Thera’, who has seven children.

According to the organization, among the Palestinian prisoners, there are 250 delinquents in Israeli jails, aged less than 18 years old. These children are equally abused as their elders, and subjected to torture, unfair trials, inhuman treatment and violations of their fundamental rights.

The organization noted that Israeli occupation authorities discriminate against the prisoners from the Palestinian areas inside the Green Line. They consider them Israeli citizens; nevertheless, they do not treat them the same way they deal with Jewish prisoners, due to Israel’s prevailing racist policy. Furthermore, Israeli government refuses to include their names in any prisoner swap deals. There are 109 prisoners from both sexes in different Israeli jails; the 78-year-old Sami Younis who was arrested 27 years ago is considered the dean of all prisoners.

Considered as the most dangerous move, Israeli government formed a ministerial committee in March 2009, to intensify violations against the prisoners. It sought to study and appraise the situation of Palestinian prisoners, with the aim of choking them. Indeed, the committee has since adopted several decisions and unjust procedures, to crush them. There are more than 1000 prisoners in Israeli jails, suffering chronic diseases, and are subjected to medical negligence. There are also more than 1500 Palestinian prisoners and others from the West Bank who have been deprived of seeing their families for long times, including 775 prisoners from the Gaza Strip denied family visits since Israel imposed the siege on the Gaza Strip in 2006, under the pretext of maintaining security.

New Israeli violations were documented; such as using detainees as human shields during the recent assault on the Gaza Strip and forcibly keeping them in holes amid heavy firing. Israeli occupation forces also turned Palestinian-owned houses into military barracks while locking up the entire family in one room only.

Also, Gaza’s fishermen were a direct target for Israeli aggression. The number of Gazan fishermen who constantly were attacked by Israelis increased, as Israeli navy forces, almost every day, arrested them, confiscated their boats and tools, and humiliated and blackmailed them. Israeli occupation forces also arrested patients at Beit Hanoun crossing ‘Erez’ kept them for interrogation, and put pressure on them to collaborate with Israeli intelligence. The organization confirmed that all people arrested were subjected to torture and humiliation, and that inflicting all kinds of torture on the prisoners is an integral part of Israel’s policy against them.

In its report, “Friends of humanity” said that the prisoner is detained under administrative detention for many years without charging him, and it may extend longer than five years. Also, there are prisoners who were transferred to administrative detention after they had served long sentences. The prisoner Fathi al-Hayek, head of Zeta Jammai'n (Nablus) village, is the oldest administrative prisoner, imprisoned for more than four years. However, the organization noted that there was a significant decrease in the number of administrative detainees during the last year, where only 280 administrative detainees remained in detention.

The organization referred to the Fourth Geneva Convention, which clearly stipulates the illegality of the continuing isolation of the prisoner more than thirty days, regardless of the offense he made. However, this was not honored by occupation authorities. They held so many prisoners in long-term isolation instead. For example, prisoners Mahmoud Issa, Abdullah Barghouthi and Hassan Salameh have been isolated since 2002, Mo'taz Hijazi and Ahmed Al-Mughrabi isolated since 2004 and Jamal Abu Al-Hija isolated since 2005.

Unprecedently, Israeli occupation authorities have arrested since mid-2006 51 Palestinian MPs and ministers, and gave most of them harsh sentences. Later, many of them were released after having spent nearly four years in captivity, but the other remaining 20 are still in different prisons under very difficult conditions.

In 2009, Israeli prison authorities tried to impose the orange uniform instead of brown. Therefore, they clearly wanted to make resemblance between them and prisoners in American prisons at Guantanamo Bay. So if one saw the Palestinian prisoners in such clothes, it would come to his mind the intended similarity between the two groups. But the decision was rejected by the prisoners, despite all punishment and strangulation, and then prison administration realized that it would not be able to implement the decision. So they had to postpone it.

“Friends of Humanity” said that 15 arrests were recorded last year, most of whom were from the Gaza Strip arrested during Israel’s war on Gaza. The majority of them faced unjust decisions mostly labeling them as ‘illegal fighters’. After they had served their sentences, they, however, were not released and continued to live under miserable conditions. Undoubtedly, this is a flagrant violation of human rights and standards of just trial as well, where the Palestinian prisoner is unable to defend himself, and is detained indefinitely without a specific charge. 

By: Fuad Al Khoffash (Researcher) and Ghassan Obaid (Human Rights Activist)
Translated by: Mohammed S. El-Nadi
Photo by: Pam Bailey

Prisoners in Israel refuse to don orange coveralls

Date: 25 / 06 / 2009 Time: 11:45

[Ma'anImages]

Nablus – Ma’an – Palestinian prisoners at the Ramon facility in Israel signed an “accord of honor” in which they pledged to reject the "Israeli decision of wearing the orange costume that negatively affects the prisoners."

The Ramon prison is in Israel's southern Negev. As of 2008 the prison was a camp of tents next to the Nafah, or Negev, Prison, which is known for its harsh treatment of prisoners.

The declaration, delivered to the public via an official from the Palestinian Prisoners Society in Nablus, also detailed the poor living conditions in the prison from the account of detained leader with the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine Wajdi Joudeh.

Director of the prisoner society Raed Amer noted that the prisoners in the facility are united, and have expressed the wish that internal division come to an end.

Ministry of detainees calls for supporting rights of Palestinian prisoners

[ 21/06/2009 - 05:17 PM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- The ministry of prisoners in Gaza on Sunday called on the popular and official institutions to organize wide campaigns in solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails against the Israeli violations of their rights especially the attempts to force them to wear the orange uniform.

In a press release received by the PIC, Riyadh Al-Ashqar, the information director at the ministry, stressed that the prisoners must not be left alone especially by the media or else the Israeli occupation would dare to violate their rights further and apply its own arbitrary laws against them.

Ashqar added that the state of silence towards what happens to Palestinian prisoners encouraged Israel to commit further violations of international law against them, so it is necessary to intensify events and activities that highlight their poor incarceration conditions and the injustice inflicted on them and not just organize weekly sit-ins in front of the Red Cross headquarters in Gaza.

The official pointed out that what happens inside Israeli jails is much worse and more brutal than the atrocities committed in Guantanamo prison, but the different media outlets failed or did not play a strong role to highlight the barbarism and war crimes taking place in Israeli prisons as was the case with Guantanamo.

The official appealed to all media outlets in the world to necessarily give greater attention and priority to the issue of Palestinian prisoners in their programs and media coverage in order to reveal the true face of Israel and thus pressuring it to stop its violations of prisoners’ rights.

Liberated prisoner: Death threatening prisoner Amal Juma

[ 20/06/2009 - 09:57 AM ]

RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- Liberated prisoner Sumud Al-Qan drew the attention of all those concerned with the issue of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli occupation authority jails to the plight of prisoner Amal Juma who is suffering from cervical cancer. Qan, 23, said that Juma, who is serving an 11-year-term, has been suffering from bleeding for the past five years, recalling that Juma has so far spent six years in IOA jails. The liberated prisoner said that the Israeli prisons authority was offering only tranquilizers to Juma. Qan, who served five years in IOA jails and was only released a few days go, told the prisoners' center for studies that the Palestinian women prisoners were experiencing harsh incarceration conditions. She noted that the IPA delayed her scheduled release for two days, which negatively affected her and her family. She warned that the same would be made with prisoner Sana' Amr, from Al-Khalil, who is scheduled to be release on 22/6/2009. Speaking about the prisoners' suffering in Damon jail, she said that the prison is full of rats and cockroaches and that the administration was barring them from buying their needs such as fans and shoes. The administration told the internees that they would have to wear an orange costume but they adamantly refused, which temporarily aborted the step, Qan underscored. She said that the IPA was planning to move the Palestinian female prisoners from Hasharon prison to Damon jail early next month, adding that the 26 prisoners in Damon were crammed in three rooms. The liberated prisoner appealed for an end to the Palestinian rift, describing national unity as the dream of all prisoners. She said that the division had negatively affected the prisoners' conditions.

Palestinian prisoner unconscious round the clock

[ 14/06/2009 - 08:17 AM ]

RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- Palestinian prisoner Munadel Al-Sharkawi, from Jenin district, is unconscious round the clock due to the presence of a blood clot in his brain, representative of the prisoners in the Israeli Megiddo jail Banan Burhum said.

Burhum in a message on Saturday appealed, on behalf of all prisoners, to those concerned to extend necessary treatment to Sharkawi, blaming his condition on the Israeli prison authority's deliberate medical neglect policy.

Other prisoners in the same jail asked a visiting lawyer to publicize their rejection of the orange costume, which the prison administration is trying to impose on Palestinian prisoners.

After year of resistance Israeli prison administration rescinds demand Palestinians wear orange

27.05.09 - 11:44

Jenin / Ali Samoudi for PNN – Palestinian political prisoners in sections one and four of the Israeli Jelboa Prison continue the long-standing struggle against the imposition of orange uniforms.

Palestinians have refused the Israeli mandate and are invoking methods of nonviolent resistance. Besides using their lawyer, political prisoners are also appealing directly appealing to the Israeli prison administration, no matter how notoriously unsympathetic.

The Israeli prison administration has informed political prisoners through their lawyer of its decision to freeze the demand that they wear orange uniforms.

After periodically meeting with the prisoners the lawyer stated Wednesday that the detainees were told by the administration last Sunday about the return of the previously worn brown uniform. This uniform was what they wore before being required to wear the orange uniform which Palestinians say likens them to criminals instead of political prisoners.

The Palestinian Prisoners’ Society says in its most recent report that the Israeli administration’s enforced uniform was a “repressive measure as these are the uniforms worn by the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.”

The head of the Bethlehem PPS said his organization is working in solidarity with political prisoners and that most refuse the orange.

Palestinians in the Israeli prisons are also disallowed family visits: all blocked for at least two months, and are not allowed even shelter from the summer heat.

No seasonal clothing or television is news is allowed either.

Ministry of prisoners: Israel deliberately kidnaps and maltreats children

[ 19/05/2009 - 05:19 PM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- The Palestinian ministry for prisoners’ affairs in Gaza said Tuesday that the IOF troops deliberately kidnap Palestinian children under age 18, physically attack them and use violent ways to interrogate them.

In a statement received by the PIC, the ministry underlined that the international conventions prohibit the detention of children except in limited special cases on condition that they are well treated and given their rights provided for by international law.

The statement highlighted that Israel does not respect any of these conventions and systematically kidnap children as many as it can from their homes, schools or during their presence on the streets and at the checkpoints.

The kidnapped children, according to the statement, are exposed to severe beatings and threats by IOF troops in order to inflict psychological harm on them so that they cannot think of resisting the occupation when they grow up.

The statement pointed to the kidnapping of six Palestinian children a few days ago in one of Ramallah villages, saying that they were maltreated and interrogated for 14 continuous hours without allowing them to eat, drink or use the toilets.

The statement also noted that the number of children in Israeli jails rose to more than 430 prisoners, many of them are less than 12 years of age, adding that those children suffer from deliberate medical neglect, and are forced to wear orange uniform and sleep on the ground.

PLC members visit Hamas affiliate released from Israeli jail

Date: 16 / 05 / 2009 Time: 15:38

Gaza – Ma’an – A delegation from the Hamas-affiliated Change and Reform bloc visited Mohammad Al-Ay, who was released from Israeli prison after 17 years of imprisonment.

The members of the Palestinian Legislative Council visited Al-Ay at his house near the At-Tufah neighborhood in Gaza City on Saturday.

Among the PLC members were deputy head of the bloc Ismail Al-Ashqar, Salem Salamah, Musheer Al-Masri, Jamal Iskiek and Imad A’fanah, general manager of the bloc in Gaza City.

In a statement, the delegates expressed their joy for Al-Ay’s release after 17 years of imprisonment, having moved from one Israeli jail to another throughout the sentence.

According to Al-Ay, the Hamas affiliates have continued to reject wearing orange prison uniforms, which he said amounted to an Israeli attempt to pressure Hamas' political leadership to give up conditions for a prisoner swap for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who has been held in Gaza since 2006.

Prisoners denounce pope for visiting family of captured soldier

Date: 11 / 05 / 2009 Time: 15:20

[Ma'anImages]

Gaza - Ma'an - The families of several Palestinian prisoners set up camp in front of the Red Cross building in Gaza City on Monday, in protest of Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the family of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

The families urged him to visit them, and to note the situation of their own sons in Israeli prisons. Moreover, the families asked that the pope visit them in Gaza to hear of their sons suffering in Israeli jails, and to pressure the Israeli government to free them.

The father of Palestinian prisoner Ali Al-Sarafati urged rights organizations to focus on the issue of Palestinians held in Israeli jails, and insisted that it was unfair for the pope to attend to the concerns of a single Israeli soldier and ignore the more than 11,000 Palestinians held by Israel.

Mwafeq Hameed, the general relations for the Gaza Organization of Prisoners and Former Prisoners, sent a message to the pope encouraging him to board a plane to visit the Gaza Strip’s prisoners. He said, "Our prisoners are suffering more than the Israeli prisoner Glad Shalit, as they lack the most simple human rights of the Fourth Geneva Convention."

Hameed went on to say that the Israeli prison administration has punished some 240 prisoners who refused to wear orange jumpsuits by preventing them from using restrooms, purchasing items and even eating lunch.

He called on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to intervene on the international level to pressure Israel to release jailed Palestinians, particularly political prisoners. He also denounced the continuos Israeli arrests and detainment Palestinians seized during the Gaza assault, which Israel has labeled "illegal combatants."

As part of long-term campaign Tirawi rejects court after orange uniforms imposed on prisoners

08.05.09 - 09:33

Bethlehem / PNN – Palestinian Legislative Council member of the Fateh party, Jamal Al Tirawi refused to appear before the Israeli military court of Salem while in an orange uniform.

He was due in court eight more times throughout the months of May and June as 11 additional witnesses are still to be heard. But the year long battle to stop the imposition of orange uniforms on Palestinian political prisoners was finally lost last week.

Al Tirawi, an ex-spokesperson of Fateh in the PLC was arrested in May 2007 during an Israeli raid on the northern West Bank town of Nablus. He is accused of having recruited youths for the Al Aqsa Brigades, the armed resistance wing of Fateh, and for having coordinated preparations for a sacrificial operation in 2002.

The Deputy refused to appear before the military court, where evidence is routinely “secret” in an orange uniform. The Israeli Department of Prisons has just recently decided to compel Palestinian political prisoners to wear them which led Tirawi to say, “We will start a strike if the penitentiary administration is determined to impose orange uniforms on prisoners.”

He continued, “The administration of Al Naqab Prison has refused detainees visits from their families as a way of putting pressure on them.” Al Tirawi continued to call on the Palestinian members of the Knesset to expose the “arbitrary practices against the prisoners before the Israeli Parliament.”

He also invited Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian leadership to organize an international conference to discuss the Israeli decision.

In violation of third Geneva Convention Israeli administration imposes orange uniforms in prisons

05.05.09 - 13:21

Nablus / PNN - The Palestinian National Initiative condemned the Israeli prisons department for imposing orange uniforms on Palestinian political prisoners in the cells of the occupation.

The PNI said the Israeli move intends to cause psychological harm to Palestinians. A great campaign was launched last year to prevent the imposition of such uniforms on political prisoners, but what the nonviolent resistance achieved was only a postponement.

The National Initiative said today that this uniform is an image associated with the detainees at Guantanamo Bay and are violations of the rights of prisoners.

“The imposition of this dress on our prisoners comes as a form of incitement by some leaders of the occupation and the prison service. They must deal with Palestinians as they are not terrorists, but rather prisoners of war or political prisoners,” said the party, run by its Secretary General Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi.

PNI called on the Palestinian people and official institutions to engage in popular support of prisoners of war against this arbitrary action which adds to the cycle of repression and abuse, and is a denial of the most basic rights in flagrant violation of the Third Geneva Convention and international law.

The National Initiative added, “The Israeli decision to impose orange uniforms is also an abuse of the National Movement and the Prisoners’ Movement. It is a new method of repression and humiliation adding to torture, and deprivation of sleep and visits.”

Detainees in Asqalan barred from visitation rights for 1 week for rejecting orange jumpsuits

Wednesday May 06, 2009 11:44 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

The Israeli Prison Administration in Asqalan (Ashkelon) Prison decided to bar the detainees from their visitation rights for one week for rejecting the wear the Orange Jumpsuits, the administration is trying to force all detainees to wear.

FIle

The one week punishment could be renewed should the detainees continue to reject the jumpsuits.

The Palestinian Ministry of Detainees reported that the administration initially decided t bar the detainees from their visitation rights for one month after they conducted a hunger strike in protest to the Israeli decision.

The administration then decided to reduce the ban on visitations to one week, in the period between May 3 and May 10.

The Ministry added that the detainees are threatening to escalate their protests should Israel use force to oblige them to wear the jumpsuits.

The detainees said that organ jumpsuits brings to mind images of the infamous Guantanamo prison.

IOA kidnaps 40 Palestinian children in one month

[ 05/05/2009 - 08:01 PM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- The PA ministry of prisoners and ex-prisoners' affairs in Gaza has accused Tuesday the Israeli occupation authorities of kidnapping 345 Palestinian citizens, including 40 minors during the past month of April. Although the month of April witnessed a number of activities in support of the Palestinian prisoners incarcerated in Israeli jails, which were considered as the biggest in this regard, repressive Israeli measures against the Palestinian captives persisted despite strong condemnation from local and international human rights groups. According Riyadh Al-Ashkar, the information officer in the ministry, the IOA rounded up hundreds of Palestinian citizens across the West Bank, Jerusalem, and fishermen from the besieged Gaza Strip. The PA official also disclosed that the kidnapped Palestinian children were tortured and humiliated at the hands of the IOF troops, noting that the number of Palestinian children captives in the Israeli jails has jumped to more than 430 children. Among the kidnapped children was Palestinian girl Maymona Jebreen, 16, who was visiting her brother in the Israeli detention camp of Ofer before the Israeli occupation police arrested her, alleging she was hiding a knife. Her father and her other two brothers were also rounded up later on by the IOA troops. According to the ministry's record, at least 10 Palestinian fishermen were kidnapped by the Israeli navy while they were fishing off the Gaza shores. Moreover, Ashkar accused the IOA of deliberately neglecting sick Palestinian captives in the Israeli jails that led to worsening their health condition further; underlining that number of sick Palestinian captives was rapidly increasing as a result of this inhumane policy. He explained that the vicious Israeli campaign against the Palestinian captives increased after an extremist Israeli party seized the portfolio of "internal security" in the new Israeli cabinet, which is directly supervising the Israeli prison authority (IPA). A couple of weeks ago, Palestinian captives refused to wear the orange uniform that the IPA tried to impose on them, stressing they are prisoners of war, and not criminals as the IPA wishes to portray them. At least three Palestinian detainees got wounded after clashes erupted between the Palestinian captives, and the IOF troops at the Ashkilon prison. Moreover, the ministry accused the IPA of denying the Palestinian captives the right to learn, saying that the IPA reduced the number of books the captives could read from eight books to one book only, in addition to denying them watching certain TV news channels like Al-Jazeera. But Palestinian female captives were completely denied any book to read, the ministry pointed out In addition to that, the administrative detention terms of many Palestinian detainees, including MPs from Hamas Movement were arbitrarily extended by Israeli courts without any legal justification, the ministry highlighted. At least two Hamas officials, including former vice-premier Dr. Naser Al-Dein Al-Shaer, and the prominent Hamas leader in the West Bank Rafat Naseef went on hunger strike in protest of their illegal detention.

Israeli prison service ban family visits to Palestinian prisoners at Ashkelon jail for one week

Date: 05 / 05 / 2009 Time: 13:15

[Ma'anImages]

Nablus – Ma’an – Palestinian families are to be banned from visiting their relatives detained in Israel's Ashkelon facility as a punishment for inmates refusing to wear the new orange-issue uniform, the prison service announced Tuesday.

Prisoners in the Ashkelon jail, many of who are detained without charge, declared a one-month hunger strike against the Israeli decision to issue orange prison uniforms replacing the street clothes inmates currently wear.

Palestinian Ministry of Prisoners Affairs said the Red Cross was informed of the ban on visits, and that in response Israel said they would reduce the initial one-month ban on visits to one week.

Detained PLC member refuses order to wear new orange prison uniform in Israel

Date: 30 / 04 / 2009 Time: 16:16

[Ma'anImages]

Gaza – Ma’an – Imprisoned member of the Palestinian Legislative Council Jamal At-Tirawi refused an order to wear a new orange prison uniform at the Jalbou’a prison starting on Saturday.

The Fatah bloc member has been detained since May 2007, and has had his appearance before a judge delayed 38 times. His trial is currently scheduled for 3 May.

A statement from At-Tirawi said the prison administration has ignored all requests to allow inmates to continue wearing street clothes provided by family members, a general rule that has prevailed in Israeli prisons since shortly after the outbreak of the second Intifadah.

Prisoners say the new dictate is meant to humiliate, and At-Tirawi accused the prison administration in Israel as “ignoring all international decisions in such cases while dealing with detainees.”

At-Tirawi noted that lawyers for several of the detainees have stepped in to prevent the move, but that Israeli prison guards prevented them from entering the meeting.

The prison administration has also threatened to close the prison canteen, where prisoners can buy food and basic writing supplies, as well as the clinic if prisoners refuse to wear the new uniforms.

Galboa’ Prison Administration to enforce Orange jumpsuits

Thursday April 30, 2009 10:40 by IMEMC & Agencies

Palestinian Prisoner Society (PPS) reported Wednesday that the Prison Administration in Galboa’ Israeli Prison informed the representative of the detainees that it intends to enforce Orange jumpsuits on the detainees starting next Sunday.

Galboa Prison - Image reprinted from asyeh.com/

Detainee Mohammad Al Sabbagh, representative of the detainees, stated that the administration threatened to punish the detainees if they do not comply with the decision.

Al Sabbagh added that the administration threatened to bar the detainees from their visitation rights, bar them from meeting their lawyers and even threatened to bar them from leaving their rooms, even if they need the prison clinic.

He also said that this decision is totally rejected by the detainees, and that they will protest it.

In a previous statement, the detainees said that one of the reasons they reject the new order is that the jumpsuits remind them of the infamous Guantanamo bay prison and of concentration camps in which the Jews were prosecuted and massacred during the Nazi era.

Legal center: Israeli internal security minister sanctions stricter measures

[ 25/04/2009 - 08:26 AM ]

RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation authority has escalated its oppressive measures against the Palestinian prisoners in its jails following the appointment of Yitzhak Aharonovich as the new internal security minister, the Palestinian center for prisoners' studies said. The center warned on Friday that Aharonovich was sanctioning escalation of harassing Palestinian prisoners on all levels; the latest was the Nahshon unit's assault on 20 prisoners in Askalan jail for refusing to wear the orange costume, before being transported to the Salem military court, as imposed by the prison administration. The center charged that those new penal measures, including those approved by a ministerial committee, are in violation of human rights and democracy. Ra'fat Hamdona, the director of the center, described statements by a number of senior Israeli prison administration officers on conditions of Palestinian prisoners as "lies" and "deceptive". Those officers claimed that the prisoners were enjoying their stay in prison and described them as "murderers" who never express regret. Hamdona said that those officers, the disciples of Aharonovich, believe that prison should be a place for "torture and death", and they do not care about the deprivation of the prisoners. He asked the world community to act and protect the international agreements daily violated by the IOA against those prisoners, and mentioned some of those measures as following: physical attacks, solitary confinement, detention without trial, high sentences and others. Aharonovich is a member of Yisrael Beiteinu the fanatic party led by Avigdor Lieberman, the current Israeli foreign minister, who once called for drowning all Arab and Palestinian prisoners in the Dead Sea. MP Khaleda Jarrar, a member of the PFLP politburo, told a seminar on conditions of prisoners on Thursday in Al-Khalil that the Palestinian prisoners were freedom fighters who struggled for the liberation of their country. She said that all old serving Palestinian prisoners should top the list of those to be released in any prisoners' exchange agreement.

Nahshon units beat Palestinian captives for rejecting orange uniform

[ 24/04/2009 - 03:34 PM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- The PA ministry of prisoners and ex-prisoners' affairs in Gaza has condemned Thursday the repressive IOA measures against Palestinian captives in Ashkilon prison for refusing to dress themselves with the orange uniform. In a statement he issued in this regard, and a copy of which was obtained by the PIC, Riyadh Al-Ashkar, the information officer of the ministry, warned that that assault of the Israeli Nahshon units on the 19 Palestinian detainees who refused to put on the uniform could be a prelude for further repressive measures against the captives. Palestinian prisoners have decided to reject wearing the orange uniform, underling that they were prisoners of war (POWs), and not criminals. They added that the uniform could inflict bad psychological repercussions on the captives and on their families. At least three Palestinian prisoners were wounded when the Nahshon unit beat them up, according to Ashkar, who added that the IOA wants to impose its will over the Palestinian detainees by forcing them to wear the uniform. In this regard, Ashkar urged all human rights and legal institutions to immediately interfere to rescue the Palestinian captives of the despotic Israeli measures. Meanwhile, in Ramallah city, the Palestinian prisoner club society revealed that the Israeli Ofer, Salem courts, and the interrogation centers of Al-Maskobeyyah and Jalama have extended the detention terms of 24 Palestinian citizens from the West Bank, and imposed fines on a number of them. Around 11,500 Palestinian prisoners, including hundreds of women and children, are locked up in different Israeli jails, many of them for more than 20 years now, in very tragic conditions.

MP Haj: Palestinian prisoners especially patients live in very harsh conditions

[ 23/04/2009 - 02:58 PM ]

NABLUS, (PIC)-- MP Ahmed Al-Haj, who was released from Israeli jails on Wednesday, said that the Palestinian prisoners live in very harsh incarceration conditions especially the patients who suffer a lot as a result of the policy of medical neglect pursued by the prison administrations. MP Haj told the Palestinian center for the defense of prisoners after his release that the number of ill prisoners is on the rise and their health conditions deteriorate everyday. He added that the bad detention conditions in Israeli jails caused different diseases to many prisoners who were not ill, pointing out that he and PLC speaker Aziz Dweik were among the prisoners who suffered from this Israeli policy. The lawmaker noted that Israel does not only practice the policy of medical neglect, but also deliberately increases the suffering of patients in its jails such as transferring them to hospitals by armored vehicles instead of ambulances. The MP also pointed to the policy of administrative detention and the decision to impose the orange uniform on prisoners, saying that such repressive actions are aimed to break the morale of the Palestinian prisoners and undermine their steadfastness. He called on human rights and legal organizations to intervene to stop the Israeli serious violations committed against the Palestinian prisoners.