Sireen Khudiri Sawafteh released from occupation prisons

17 July 2013

Palestinian teacher and activist Sireen Khudiri Sawafteh, 25, was released from Israeli occupation prisons on Monday, July 15, 2013, following two months’ imprisonment. She was released with a fine of 7000 NIS that is also serving as bail, but is prohibited from accessing the internet or leaving her home until another court hearing in her case on September 16.

She was arrested on May 15 as she returned to her home city of Tubas from university. She was held in Jalame detention centre for interrogation for 22 days before transfer first to Ashkelon and then to Hasharon prison with her fellow women political prisoners.

She said, following her release, that those who work on the prisoners’ cause should focus on Hasharon prison, as conditions are very bad, and medical neglect and mistreatment is common. She also urged support for Tahrir Mansour at her court hearing on August 28.

Facebook page for Sireen Khudiri Sawafteh campaign

There are now 13 women prisoners in occupation prisons: Alaa al-Ju’bah, Alaa Abu Zaytoun, Ayat Mahfouz, Enaam AbdelJabar Hasanat, Hiba Budair, Inaam Qanambou, Intisar al-Sayyad, Lina Jarbouni, Mona Qaadan, Naheel Abu Aisha, Nawal al-Saadi, Tahrir al-Qinni Mansour, and Dunya Wakid.

Abdullah Barghouthi suffering liver disease as Jordanian strike continues for 77 days

17 July 2013

Abdullah Barghouthi is now suffering from atrophy of the liver as a result of his inability to burn body fat, reported Palestinian lawyer Hanan al-Khatib. Barghouti, and four other Palestinian prisoners holding Jordanian citizenship, Mohammad Rimawi, Muneer Mar’i, Alaa Hammad and Hamza Othman al-Dabbas, have been on hunger strike for 77 days.

Barghouthi is being held in Afula hospital, while the other four strikers are now being held in a psychiatric ward at Ramleh prison clinic. He has suffered inflammation of the heart and liver over the past week and has fainted on several occasions. Khatib said that a prison medical committee is threatening to force feed Barghouthi.

Please click here to take action to support the demands of Barghouthi and his fellow hunger strikers.

Prisoners protest medical mistreatment and neglect in Israeli prisons

17 July 2013

The Palestinian Information Centre reported on the statement of the Palestinian Prisoners Society, holding the Israeli prison authority fully responsible for what happened to Palestinian prisoner Mohamed Ghawadreh who lost his eyesight partially after he received incorrect medical treatment in the infirmary of Hadarim jail.

The society stated on July 16 that Ghawadreh was suffering from severe pains in his teeth, but an Israeli doctor in Hadarim jail deliberately injected him with an incorrect drug, which to date has caused him to lose 80 percent of his vision in one eye and 30 percent in the other.

It affirmed that his family is prevented from visiting him in jail and appealed to the Red Cross to pressure the Israeli prison authority in this regard in order for the prisoner to see his family.

The prisoner society also called for forming a neutral medical and human rights committee to investigate the incident that led the prisoner to lose his vision partially.

At the same time, on July 17, Palestinian lawyer Hanan al-Khatib reported that prisoners in Ramle prison clinic refused meals and medications to protest ongoing medical negligence and mistreatment.

Riad Amour, a representative of the ill prisoners, said that prison authorities have threatened the prisoners with a loss of family visits and further penalties for their strike. He reported that the patients are seen by a doctor only once weekly, despite their serious conditions, and are denied important medical treatment, including for inflammation after amputations, shrapnel injuries, and tumors.

Former prisoner Mohammad al-Saadi seized on bridge while travelling for leg surgery

17 July 2013

Mohammad al-Sa’adi of Jenin, a former Palestinian prisoner, was seized by occupation soldiers and re-arrested as he attempted to cross the bridge to Jordan in order to undergo surgery on his injured leg. Sa’adi’s family urged on July 17 that he be released and provided immediate treatment, saying that his leg surgery was urgent.

Sa’adi’s mother said that as soon as he entered the bridge, he was surrounded by intelligence and military forces, and arrested. She urged international human rights and medical organizations to take an interest in her son’s case.

Ragheb Abu Diak of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society said that targeting of former prisoners is a systematic policy of harassment against the entire Palestinian people, noting the massive proportion of Palestinians who have served time in Israeli prison or detention. Sa’adi has been arrested several times before, spending 20 months and 28 months in occupation prisons.

Ahmad Sa’adat suddenly moved to Shatta prison, while Abu Ghoulmeh moved to Hadarim

17 July 2013

Palestinian political prisoner and General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Ahmad Sa’adat, was suddenly transferred from Hadarim Prison to Shatta Prison on July 16, 2013.

Simultaneously, Israeli prison authorities transferred Sa’adat’s comrade, Ahed Abu Ghoulmeh, from Shatta prison to Hadarim prison. Abu Ghoulmeh and Sa’adat were held together in PA imprisonment in Jericho Prison and abducted together by the Israeli occupation military in March 2006, when the Jericho prison was attacked.

The Prisoners’ Commission of the PFLP responded to these transfers by saying “these movements are an attempt to distract and harass the leadership of the prisoners’ movement, and come as a result of the tense situation in the occupation prisons at present because of the ongoing hunger strikes,” in particular the hunger strike of Palestinian prisoners holding Jordanian citizenship that has continued for over 76 days.

Prisoners in Gilboa Prison join Anger Strike against Prawer Plan

15 July 2013

Palestinian prisoners in Gilboa prison announced their participation in the July 15 Anger Strike, a general strike of Palestinians in the ’48 occupied areas, against the Prawer Plan, which will displace up to 40,000 Palestinian Bedouins and destroy their villages.

Addameer reported that the prisoners of Gilboa prison had issued a statement on the strike.

Their statement reads as follows:

On Monday, July 15, when a general strike was announced inside the occupied lands of 1948 to reject the Prawer Plan, which confiscates the lands of the Negev (Naqab) and the displacement of the Bedouin, called by the Higher Follow-Up Committee in the ’48 areas.

We have decided in Gilboa prison to join the national strike within the prison, refusing to hold events on Monday and closing prison facilities, recognizing that we are profoundly connected to all of the struggles of our people and our homeland, in defense of our identity, our belonging, our land and our memory.

Update on 13 Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike

15 July 2013

Palestinian prisoners are continuing their hunger strikes in Israeli occupation prisons, with 13 prisoners currently engaged in open hunger strikes, demanding freedom and justice.

Abdullah Barghouthi, one of the five Palestinian prisoners with Jordanian citizenship on strike, is continuing to suffer from severe medical effects of his strike. His heartbeat is irregular, his vision is impaired, and he is continuing to suffer kidney and liver problems. His four fellow strikers with Jordanian citizenship, Mohammad Rimawi, Muneer Mar’i, Alaa Hammad and Hamza Othman Al-Dabbas, are now in what has been labelled the psychiatric ward at Ramle prison clinic, where they are even more isolated than before. All have been on hunger strike for 75 days and are shackled hand and foot to their hospital beds. They are also shackled hand and foot for legal visits despite their poor health. They are under 24-hour camera surveillance, yet requests for water can take up to an hour to fulfill.

The family of Ayman and Mohammad Al-Tabeesh, who have been on strike for 54 and 36 days, respectively, called for greater Palestinian, Arab and international advocacy for the prisoners whose lives are on the line in Israeli occupation prisons. Ayman is an administrative detainee demanding his freedom, and Mohammad is a former administrative detainee now serving an 18-month sentence. Mohammad launched his own strike in solidarity with his brother.

The 13 strikers currently on hunger strike are as follows:

Palestinian prisoner’s name	Date of Hunger Strike
Ayman Issa Hamdan	04/28/2013
Muneer Mari	05/02/2013
Abdullah Barghouti	05/02/2013
Alaa Hammad	05/02/2013
Mohammad Rimawi	05/02/2013
Hamza Othman Al-Dabbas	05/02/2013
Imad Batran	05/07/2013
Adel Hareebat	05/23/2013
Ayman Al-Tabeesh	05/23/2013
Hossam Mattar	06/01/2013
Mohammed Al-Tabeesh	06/12/2013
Eyad Abu Khudair	06/17/2013
Abdul Majed Khuderat	07/01/2013

Take Action: 75 days of strike. Abdullah Barghouthi in health crisis. Implement the demands of Jordanian hunger strikers!

14 July 2013

Five Palestinian political prisoners with Jordanian nationality being held in Israeli prisons are entering their 75th day of hunger strike, and facing a severe health crisis. Take action today to join in their demands for justice.

Click to Tweet Now: ACT NOW: Abdullah Barghouthi and Jordanian hunger strikers in health crisis on 75th day of strike. Demand justice: http://wp.me/p2cx3f-Hu

Abdullah Barghouthi, Mohammad Rimawi, Muneer Mar’i, Alaa Hammad, and Hamza Othman al-Dabbas launched their hunger strike on May 2, 2013. All carry Jordanian citizenship, and together issued three demands:

1. That they be released from Israeli prisons and serve their sentences in Jordanian prisons according to the Wadi Araba Agreement between Jordan and Israel. This agreement was previously applied to the case of prisoner Sultan Al-Ajouli, who was transferred to Jordanian custody in accordance with the agreement.

2. That the Occupation disclose the whereabouts of missing Jordanian prisoners, of which there are 20.

3. That the Occupation remove martyrs from the ‘numbered graves’, where prisoners who died in custody are currently kept in nameless graves.

Their health has worsened progressively. Abdullah Barghouthi is currently held in Afula hospital, while Rimawi, Mar’i, Hammad and Othman al-Dabbas are held in the Ramle prison clinic. All are shackled, hand and foot, to their hospital beds. Abdullah Barghouthi has been physically assaulted on multiple occasions by his jailers, and is now in a severe health crisis.

He is no longer able to receive injections in his arms due to inflammation, and is taking only water. He is suffering from kidney, liver and other diseases, reported lawyer Jawad Boulos on July 13. These reports followed updates on July 10 that Barghouthi was suffering severe inflammations throughout his body. The Palestinian Prisoners’ Society also released a statement in which Barghouthi said “his hunger strike would end only on or under the Jordanian soil.” Barghouthi has been consistently suffering severe headaches and shivering throughout his body.

Hunger striking prisoners Muneer Mar’i, Mohammad Rimawi, and Ala’a Hammad were transferred to the Ramle prison clinic from Soroka Hospital on July 14. Hamza Othman al-Dabbas remained at Ramle clinic. Each of the prisoners have lost over 18 kilograms of weight and must use wheelchairs to move. Rimawi is being denied critical medicine for his heart disease because he refuses to end his hunger strike.

The families of the hunger strikers have called for action. Protests have taken place in London, throughout all areas of occupied Palestine, including ’48 Palestine, Ramallah, Gaza, and Nablus; and over 70 protests in Jordan. Take action today:

TAKE ACTION!

1. Sign a letter demanding the Israeli state immediately implement the demands of the Jordanian hunger strikers. Tell the Israeli Prison Services that the world is watching! Click here to sign..

2. Join a protest or demonstration outside an Israeli consulate for Palestinian prisoners. Join one or announce your own. Organizing an event, action or forum on Palestinian prisoners on your city or campus? Use this form to contact us and we will post the event widely. If you need suggestions, materials or speakers for your event, please contact us at samidoun@samidoun.net.

3. Contact your government officials and demand an end to international silence and complicity with the repression of Palestinian political prisoners. In Canada, Call the office of John Baird, Foreign Minister, and demand an end to Canadian support for Israel and justice for Palestinian prisoners, at : 613-990-7720; Email: bairdj@parl.gc.ca. In the US, call the office of Elizabeth Jones, Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs (1.202.647.7209). Demand that Elizabeth Jones bring this issue urgently to his counterparts in Israel.

Samer al-Barq enters fourth year in administrative detention without charge or trial

14 July 2013

Samer al-Barq is entering his fourth year in administrative detention, without charge or trial, said the Palestinian Prisoners Study Centre.

Al-Barq was transferred from Jordanian captivity to occupation forces at the Karama crossing on July 11, 2010, and immediately placed under administrative detention without charge, said Amina Tawil of the Centre. She said that he engaged in several hunger strikes demanding his release, for 30 days, 125 days, and 43 days. He was repeatedly promised that a deal would be arranged in which he would be deported to Egypt from which he would return to Pakistan, the country of his wife’s citizenship, but these promises were never fulfilled.

He suffered severe medical consequences of his hunger strike, dropping in weight from 93 to 72 kilograms, suffering kidney disease, high blood pressure and low blood sugar. His administrative detention was renewed again in late June for another six months.

Samer al-Barq’s story in many ways captures the transnational security alliances of the US and its allies. He was arrested in Pakistan and held for three months in a secret US detention facility in 2003, from which he was transferred to Jordan. He was held by Jordanian intelligence for four years and then released in January 28. He worked at a medical laboratory, and his wife travelled from Pakistan to join him. He was then re-arrested by Jordanian secret services and transferred to the Israelis. At no point has he been charged with or tried for any crime. During his imprisonment without charge or trial he has been interrogated by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, among others.

Thaer Halahleh moved to Ramle prison clinic following health crisis

14 July 2013

Palestinian political prisoner and former hunger striker Thaer Halahleh has been transferred from Ofer prison to Ramla prison clinic following further deterioration in his health conditions, as he suffers from Hepatitis C, which he was infected with during a dental operation at Askelan Occupation prison.

Halahleh, who was released last June after a 77-day hunger strike conducted with fellow administrative detainee Bilal Diab, was re-arrested in April. Once again he has not been charged; Halahleh has been arrested eight times and served six and one half years in Israeli Occupation prisons. He has never been charged with a crime or tried; at all times he has been held without charges or under administrative detention.

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