Prisoners launch partial hunger strike in solidarity with Mohammad Rimawi

3 August 2013

Palestinian prisoners affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in the southern prisons – Eshel, Nafha, Ramon and Negev – held a partial hunger strike on Friday and Saturday, August 2 and 3, in solidarity with the imprisoned PFLP leader, Mohammad Rimawi, who is one of five Palestinian prisoners holding Jordanian citizenship who has been on hunger strike for 91 days.

Rimawi, held in Soroka Hospital, is suffering from poor health and heart disease, and is at risk of a serious heart attack, in particular as he suffers from other chronic diseases.

In a leaked letter, the prison branch of the PFLP said that this step is the first of a series of efforts, and will be followed by a partial hunger strike by PFLP prisoners in northern prisons, and by the comprehensive participation of all prisoners from the national and Islamic forces, at a time and with a program agreed upon by all forces.

The letter from the PFLP prison branch urged international institutions, human rights organizations, and the United Nations to act urgently to save Rimawi’s life. It also urged the Palestinian masses and national organizations to act to stand beside Rimawi and his fellow prisoners engaged in an open hunger strike.

Palestinian prisoner Ahmed Uwaini released to Gaza

3 August 2013

Palestinian prisoner Ahmed Ismail Uwaini was released on August 1 after 11 years in Israeli prisons. Uwaini, who was born in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, is affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, whose members and friends welcomed Uwaini at the Beit Hanoun crossing.

He traveled in a caravan of cars from Beit Hanoun to Bureij camp, where a celebration was held for Palestinian refugees in the camp and Uwaini’s comrades and family. A reception tent has been organized outside Uwaini’s home in the camp, which will be open for three days to receive visitors.

Ahmad Qatamesh’s appeal denied in Israeli court ruling based on Shabak input

3 August 2013

The appeal of Palestinian academic and administrative detainee Ahmad Qatamesh was denied on August 1, 2013, reported the Palestinian Prisoners Society.

Jawad Boulos, of PPS’ legal unit, said that the occupation courts have in facr given license to renew Qatamesh’s administrative detention. He has been held without charge or trial since April 21, 2011, and appealed the last four-month extension of his administrative detention, at a hearing on April 29, 2013. He was told he would be held until at least September 29, 2013.

In the court’s rejection of Qatamesh’s appeal, Boulos said that the judges noted that the director of the Shabak had himself taken up the file of Ahmed Qatamesh and supported his administrative detention, and the court noted that it would support his authority in the matter.

Boulos pointed out that the High Court’s use of the Shabak’s word on this issue nullifies any concept of judicial authority or review, and that the occupation courts are above all a mechanism to implement the policies of security services.

Qatamesh, a political writer and university lecturer, has received international support from Amnesty International among others, demanding his release from ongoing detention without charge or trial.

He was earlier detained for over five years without trial in the 1990s.

Israeli Supreme Court rejects petition of Hareebat and Al-Tabeesh

3 August 2013

hareebat-atabeesh The Israeli Supreme Court rejected the petition on behalf of Palestinian administrative detainees Adel Hareebat and Ayman Al-Tabeesh, who have been on hunger strike since May 23.

Jawad Boulous, director of the legal unit of the Palestinian Prisoners Society, said that the three-judge panel rejected the petition without giing any justification, simply saying they rejected the petition after reviewing the secret evidence. The court hearing took place without the presence of Hareebat and Al-Tabeesh, who are currently held in Kaplan hospital.

Hareebat and Al-Tabeesh have engaged from time to time in protests by rejecting water and vitamins. Their doctors at the hospital issued a report that their muscles are atrophying, placing them at an advanced stage of risk. They are held in administrative detention, without charge or trial.

Boulos said that the occupation courts have “proven once again that they are not a space for Palestinians to seek justice or relief from oppression. Their ears are closed to what is said to them on behalf of prisoners arbitrarily detained without charge or trial, but are open widely to the secret statements of the Shabak intelligence behind closed doors.”

Hareebat was previously detained, and released in 2008. Al-Tabeesh was released in 2010 after three years in administrative detention.

Rafah municipality holds day of solidarity with Abdullah Barghouthi as health threatened in 91st day of hunger strike

3 August 2013

Rafah municipality held a day of solidarity with hunger striking prisoner Abdullah Barghouthi, who has been engaged in a hunger strike for 91 days. Barghouthi is currently held in Afula hospital, shackled to his bed. Osama Abu Zayd of Rafah municipality said that it is a national duty to support all political prisoners and prisoners of war.

The health condition of prisoner Abdullah Al-Barghouthi has seriously deteriorated after 91 days of hunger strike along with four other Jordanian captives.

Meanwhile, Palestinian lawyer Mohammed Al Shayeb, who visited Barghouthi on August 1 in Afula, warned of the serious deterioration of the striker’s health condition due to his continued hunger strike.

The lawyer quoted the prison doctor as saying that Barghouthi risks death at any moment, noting that his medical condition is monitored twice a day to check his heart rate, blood pressure, and glucose levels.

The IPS in Afula has refused the doctors’ demand to conduct the hunger striker physical examination to his nerves under the pretext that his transfer from his room to the clinic causes a security problem, the lawyer added.

Abdullah al-Barghouthi has declared since early May an open hunger strike along with four other Jordanian captives, Mohammad Rimawi, Muneer Mar’i, Hamza al-Dabbas Othman, and Alaa Hammad.

Image: Nidal El-Khairy connects prison struggles from Pelican Bay to Palestine

3 August 2013

Nidal El-Khairy’s image marking the connection between Palestinian hunger strikers and California hunger strikers was published at the Electronic Intifada: “In Pelican Bay and other prisons throughout California, approximately 30,000 inmates are nearing their second month of the largest prison hunger strike in US history. Committed to maintaining the strike indefinitely, they are demanding an end to a vast range of abuses, including solitary confinement, long-term isolation, denial of family contact, and absence of legal protections.

Palestinian hunger strikers have expressed their solidarity with inmates in California, urging them to stay strong in their commitment to ending their isolation and to remember that they are not alone. Internationally, as one, we stand — internationally, as one, we resist.” – Nidal El-Khairy

Palestinian prisoner Bassam Obeid protests isolation in Ramon prison

3 August 2013

Palestinian prisoner Bassam Obeid, of Arraba village outside Jenin, has been held in isolation in Ramon prison for 39 days, as part of the policy of arbitrary transfers exercised against him and his fellow prisoners by the Israeli Prison Service.

Raghab Abu Diak of the Palestinian Prisoners Society said that the prison administraion regularly engages in arbitrary transfers in order to break the prisoners’ ranks and confuse the prisoners’ movement, and create instability.

Abu Diak noted that Obeid’s health situation is difficult, and that he has suffered significant hearing loss. When he is isolated and apart from his fellow prisoners, he does not receive needed care to support his life and health.

Walid Obeid, Bassam’s brother, called for the International Committee of the Red Cross to pressure the Israeli Prison Services to move Bassam to a collective cell so that his fellow prisoners can provide necessary care for him. Obeid has been imprisoned for over 9 years.

Palestinian student detained for Facebook ‘likes’ and comments

3 August 2013

Israeli investigators detained a Palestinian Ph.D. student for affiliation to Islamic Movement Hamas, based on comments and ‘likes’ on Facebook, the Solidarity Foundation for Human Rights (SFHR) reported in the Middle East Monitor.

SFHR researcher, Ahmed al-Betawi, said that the Israeli forces detained the 26 year old Palestinian student, Mosab abul-Reesh, who is carrying out Ph. D research in Cyprus, when he entered the country to spend the holiday with his family in Hebron.

Investigators at an Israeli prison accused him of being a member of Hamas based on comments and ‘likes’ that he had made on Facebook.

Information from Abul-Reesh’s Facebook account indicates that he ‘liked’ several comments of Palestinian Facebook users who the Israeli’s accused of being affiliated to Hamas.

Ahmed Al-Betawi said that Israeli investigators have recently started asking prisoners whether they have Facebook accounts or not. “It they answer yes, they are obliged to give the investigators access to it and they search the accounts, violating the right to privacy,” he said.

Israeli prison guards raid Negev prison

3 August 2013

Israeli prison guards broke into ward eight in Negev prison on August 2, the Palestinian Prisoners Society reported, causing a number of injuries among the prisoners.

The PPS charged, in a statement on Saturday, August 3, that the Israeli guards brutally assaulted and attacked the prisoners while praying.

The statement pointed out that the Israeli prison service (IPS) isolated seven prisoners, imposed heavy fines on them, and deprived them of family visits, in addition to confiscating all electric appliances in the room.

The IPS guards routinely break into the prisoners’ rooms under the pretext of searching for mobile phones.

Protest at Ramallah police headquarters demands freedom of detained protesters

28 July 2013

Palestinian protesters took to the streets outside the Ramallah police headquarters on the evening of July 28, 2013, demanding the release of five detainees, Ali Amer Hamdullah, Fayeq Meri, Yousef Farouq Hamdullah, Tamer Arar, and Iyan Ayaydeh, held by Palestinian Authority security forces following the demonstrations to reject resumed negotiations earlier in the day. The protest was attacked by PA security as it sought to proceed to the Muqata’ presidential compound. The protesters are demanding that the PA retreat from its decision to return to negotiations with Israel under US auspices.

As of 12:45 am, July 29, the 5 detainees were released after their families and the demonstrators refused to leave the area outside the police station:

Video of the protest:

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