Report: Qa’adan, Ezzedine suspend hunger strikes following pledge to not renew their detention

27 February 2013

qaadan-azzedine Ma’an reported on February 27 that Tareq Qa’adan and Jafar Ezzedine suspended their hunger strike after their hearing on that morning, at which the military prosecutor said that their detention orders will not be renewed after their current orders expire on May 21, but they may resume their strikes depending on the outcome of their next hearing, March 6:

RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — Tareq Qaadan and Jafar Azzidine on Wednesday suspended their 93-day hunger strike after a hearing held at a hospital near Tel Aviv, the Palestinian Prisoners Society said.

Qaadan and Azzidine suspended their strike after an Israeli military prosecutor said their administrative detention order would not be renewed, the PPS said in a statement. Their current detention order expires on May 21.

They will consider renewing the strike depending on the outcome of the next hearing on March 6.

In Assaf Harofeh Hospital, where the prisoners are being treated, a military judge said she would reveal the secret charges and evidence against the men and issue a final decision at their next hearing, said lawyer Jawad Bulous.

Qaadan and Azzidine have been held in administrative detention on secret charges and evidence that even their lawyers have not been allowed to review.

Both men attended Wednesday’s hearing in wheelchairs. They were due to appear at Ofer military court near Ramallah on Tuesday but the hearing was postponed as the detainees were too sick to attend.

Vancouver, Feb. 28: UBC Goes Hungry in Support of Palestinian Political Prisoners and Samer Issawi

27 February 2013

Thursday, February 28
10 am – all day
Student Union Building, University of British Columbia
Vancouver
Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/424142921007889/

Samer Issawi’s struggle against the oppression of the Apartheid Israeli state is not a personal struggle only, it is a struggle on behalf all the oppressed people on earth. He’s the brother, father and son of every single person who was arrested for making his or her voice, tortured or killed for the sake of freedom, dignity and humanity. With his empty stomach he jailed his jailer and brought to the forefront the plight of thousands of political prisoners – women, men and children – who have been tortured, oppressed, intimidated and often killed by the criminal security apparatus of the Apartheid state.

Samer Issawi is one of 4,812 Palestinian political prisoners held in Israeli occupation prisons. Nearly every Palestinian family is affected by political imprisonment – for example, in the West Bank and Gaza, 1 out of every 4 Palestinians has spent time in an Israeli prison. Some of these prisoners are held under administrative detention, without charge or trial, while others are placed before military courts with a 99.74% conviction rate. Issawi is a former Palestinian prisoner who was freed on October 18, 2011, only to be re-arrested on July 7, 2012 under a military order allowing former prisoners to be arbitrarily re-arrested on the basis of secret evidence. He has been on hunger strike for over 200 days in protest of his detention. Tareq Qa’adan and Jaafar Ezzedine, two prisoners held under administrative detention, and Ayman Sharawna, a re-arrested former prisoner in a similar situation to Issawi, are also engaged in lengthy hunger strikes. Their efforts come on the heels of hunger strikes by dozens of prisoners – and a mass hunger strike in April 2011 that involved thousands of prisoners – demanding dignity, freedom and justice.

It should be noted that on February 23, Arafat Jaradat, a newly detained Palestinian prisoner held under interrogation, was killed in prison, his autopsy pointing to torture as the reason for his death. Palestinians have taken to the streets – and eight more prisoners have joined in hunger strike – in response to Jaradat’s death.

Here at UBC, Palestinian and pro-Palestinian students, professors and people of conscience are saying enough is enough and that Samer’s voice, and the voice of his fellow Palestinian political prisoners, will not pass unheard. This year, Israeli Apartheid Week at UBC is dedicated to the heroism and perseverance of Samer in exposing the criminal treatment of Palestinian under the hands of Israel. The Battle of the Empty Stomachs inside the Palestinian prisons will be symbolically represented by members and supporters of Palestine and Palestinian freedom and justice with a one-day hunger strike.

Join SPHR in the Student Union Building at UBC in a collective hunger strike organized in support of Samer Issawi and his fellow prisoners. The strike will begin Thursday morning. There will be posters, placards and signs and all you are required to bring is your empty stomach and your dedication to support a just cause.

Los Angeles, March 1: Emergency Demonstration in Support of Palestinian Prisoner Rights

27 February 2013

Friday, March 1
4 pm – 7 pm
Where: In front of the Israeli Consulate in West LA, 11766 Wilshire Blvd. Suite 1600, Los Angeles, CA
Why: To show support to all of the Palestinian prisoners currently on hunger strike and to protest Arafat Jaradat’s death by torture.
https://www.facebook.com/events/539789252728441/

On Friday, February 22, 2013, over 1,000 internationals joined in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners with a 24-hour hunger strike in support of Samer Issawi, Ayman Sharawna, Tareq Qa’adan, and Ja’far Izzidine, along with other Palestinian prisoners who have heeded the call for the hunger strike to protest their inhumane and illegal detainment.

Friday’s international hunger strike signaled the beginning of weekly Friday actions demanding the immediate release of hunger striking Palestinian prisoners, including a rolling 24-hour hunger strike every Friday-Saturday night. These actions are also intended to highlight the ongoing plight of Palestinian prisoners and their deplorable detentions in Israel’s occupation jails.

On Sunday, February 24, 2013, a mass Palestinian prisoner hunger strike took place in response to the death of 30-year old Arafat Jaradat. Palestinian Prisoner Society Chairman Qadura Fares confirmed after autopsy that Jaradat’s death was indeed the result of Israeli torture. Jaradat’s death has set off a wave of clashes between Palestinians and Israeli Occupation Forces in Palestine.

As the Palestinian prisoners’ rights group Addameer recently reported, “Since 1967, over 200 prisoners have died in captivity, fifty-one of them from medical negligence. Alarmingly, there is a recent trend of prisoners who have died shortly after they are released from medical complications that went untreated during their detention.”

In the wake of all of these events, join us to remind Zionists that we refuse to allow Israel’s continued dismissal of Palestinian prisoner rights to go unchecked.

Video: Dalal Jaradat speaks about the arrest of her husband Arafat

27 February 2013

Dalal Jaradat, the wife of Arafat Jaradat, the Palestinian prisoner killed through torture on February 23, speaks on video about the arrest of her husband:

Palestinian Jordanian activist held incommunicado in Saudi Arabia

27 February 2013

Jordanian activist Khalid al-Natour has been held incommunicado in Saudi Arabia since January 6, when he arrived on a work visa with colleagues. His friends and family have not been informed of any reason for his detention and he has been unable to contact the outside world. Please call the Saudi embassy in your country – in Washington, DC the number is 202-342-3800 and in Ottawa, the number is 613-237-4100. Please inform the Saudi embassy that people around the world are deeply concerned about Khalid al-Natour.

Amnesty International issued the following statement:

DOCUMENT – SAUDI ARABIA: JORDANIAN HELD INCOMMUNICADO IN SAUDI ARABIA

UA: 52/13 Index: MDE 23/007/2013 Saudi Arabia Date: 26 February 2013

URGENT ACTION

A Jordanian man has been held incommunicado in an undisclosed location in Saudi Arabia since 6 January. He was last seen being arrested by Saudi Arabian security forces, and has since been denied access to his family and to the outside would. The conditions of his detention may amount to enforced disappearance if the Saudi Arabian authorities continue to refuse disclosing his fate.

Jordanian web developer Khalid al-Natour, 27 years old, was arrested upon arrival at the King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, on 6 January 2013. He had arrived from Jordan with four of his colleagues on a business trip (all five men work for the same internet holding company). Khalid al-Natour was detained by the Saudi Arabian authorities; his colleagues were told they would risk a similar fate if they did not leave the airport immediately.

Khalid al-Natour is a member of Herak, a Jordanian pro-reform movement that has called for political and economic change in Jordan as well as increased political freedoms. In September 2011, he was arrested near the Saudi Arabian consulate in ‘Amman, Jordan, for insulting a Jordanian security officer during a demonstration protesting against Saudi Arabia’s involvement in Bahrain. He was subsequently released on bail a day later; his case remains pending before a Jordanian court.

On 23 December 2012, he was granted a single-entry visa to Saudi Arabia while his four colleagues were granted multiple-entry visas by the Saudi Arabian embassy in Jordan. Neither the Jordanian authorities nor Khalid al-Natour’s family, who have sought information about his case, have been provided with an official response regarding his detention, including his whereabouts and the reason for his detention.

Please write immediately in Arabic, English or your own language:

Calling on the Saudi Arabian authorities to immediately disclose Khalid al-Natour’s whereabouts;

Urging them to ensure that he is protected from torture or other ill-treatment and given, without delay, regular access to his family, lawyers of his own choosing, consular assistance and any adequate medical treatment he may require;

Urging them to release Khalid al-Natour unless he is promptly charged with an internationally recognizable criminal offence and tried in proceedings that conform fully to international fair trial standards.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 9 APRIL 2013 TO:

�

Minister of the Interior

His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Naif bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud

Ministry of the Interior, P.O. Box 2933, Airport Road, Riyadh 11134

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Fax: +966 1 403 3125 (please keep trying)

Salutation: Your Royal Highness

King and Prime Minister

King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud

The Custodian of the two Holy Mosques

Office of His Majesty the King

Royal Court, Riyadh

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Fax: (via Ministry of the Interior)

+966 1 403 3125 (please keep trying)

Salutation: Your Majesty

And copies to:

Minister of Foreign Affairs

His Excellency Nasser Judeh

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

P.O. Box 35217

Amman, Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan

Fax: +962 6 573 5163

Email: mofa@fm.gov.jo�

Also send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited to your country.

Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date.

�

URGENT ACTION

jordanian held incommunicado in saudi arabia

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Critics of the Saudi Arabian government face gross human rights violations. They are often held incommunicado without charge, sometimes in solitary confinement, and denied access to lawyers or the courts to challenge the lawfulness of their detention. Torture or other ill-treatment is frequently used to extract “confessions” from detainees, to punish them for refusing to “repent”, or to force them to sign pledges promising not to criticize the government. Incommunicado detention in Saudi Arabia often lasts until a “confession” is obtained, which can take months and occasionally years.

Saudi Arabia has systematically violated international human rights standards that irrevocably prohibit prolonged incommunicado detention of detainees. The UN General Assembly has stated that “prolonged incommunicado detention or detention in secret places can facilitate the perpetration of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and can in itself constitute a form of such treatment” (UN General Assembly resolutions 62/148 paragraph 15, and 63/166 paragraph 20, 17 December 2007 and 12 December 2008 respectively). Similarly, the UN Human Rights Committee has stated that provisions should be made against incommunicado detention (General Comment 20, Article 7, forty-fourth session, 1992), and the UN Committee against Torture has consistently called for its elimination. The UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, recognizing that “torture is most frequently practised during incommunicado detention”, has also called for such detention to be made illegal.

Amnesty International has detailed such abuses as well as the crackdown on freedom of expression and protests in the name of security in a report entitled Saudi Arabia: Repression in the name of security (MDE 23/016/2011), issued on 1 December 2011 (http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE23/016/2011/en).

Name: Khalid al-Natour

Gender m/f: m

In light of findings of Arafat Jaradat autopsy, PCHR calls for independent International investigation

27 February 2013

The autopsy report prepared by Dr Saber al-‘Aloul, Director of the Palestinian Medico-legal Institute on Arafat Jaradat, a Palestinian detainee who died in an Israeli prison, has concluded that Jaradat’s death was caused by nervous shock resulting from severe pain, which was caused by multiple injuries inflicted through direct and extreme torture.

Arafaf Shalish Shaheen Jaradat, 30, from Sa’ir village northeast of Hebron in the southern West Bank, died in Megiddo Prison inside Israel on Saturday, 23 February 2013. Israeli authorities claimed that he died due to an apparent heart attack, but the Palestinian Authority and numerous human rights organisations raised doubts concerning the Israeli narrative, and are calling for an independent investigation into Jaradat’s death.

An autopsy of Jardat’s body was performed in the Israeli National Institute of Forensic Medicine in Abu Kabir in the presence of Dr Saber al-‘Aloul and two Israeli physicians on the day after his death. Contrary to Israeli claims that Jaradat died due to an apparent heart attack, the autopsy showed, according to the Palestinian physician’s report, that “the heart muscle is perfectly healthy; no signs of harm or signs of a recent or previous myocardial infarction […]” The report indicated that there were multiple injuries on Jaradat’s body. For example, the report stated: There are recent excoriations and bruising on the inside of the lower lip; there is severe bruising on the upper right back; there are circle-shaped bruises on the bottom of the front right side of the chest; there is bruising on the facis lateralis brachii of the left elbow; there is bruising on the back of the right arm; there are deep bruises, 4×9 centimetre in diameter, on the muscle of the upper left shoulder, adjacent to the spine, below the neck; the bruises damaged the tissue of the muscle; there are 4×10 centimetre bruises on the right side of the chest; the bruises penetrated the skin and caused damage to the muscle tissue; they were located 27 centimetres from the spine, 53 centimetres below the top of the head; there is a fracture in the second and third ribs on the front left side with bruises around the fracture; and there is a fracture in the second rib on the front right side of the chest. The report emphasised that all fractures or wounds were recent, that the injuries were severe, and had resulted from direct and extreme torture.

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) stresses that torture is an international crime that amounts to a crime against humanity and it constitutes a blatant violation of human rights, which can never be justified under any circumstance. It is prohibited under several international instruments, including the Convention against Torture of 1984, which was ratified by Israel in 1991, and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

According to PCHR’s documentation, this case is part of a phenomenon in which thousands of Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons and detention facilities are subjected to torture by Israeli security services.

In light of the above, PCHR:

1- Calls for establishing an international inquiry to investigate the circumstances of Jaradat’s death in Megiddo prison;

2- Calls upon the High Contracting Parties to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment to refer this case to the UN Committee against Torture;

3- Calls upon the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment to investigate this incident, which highlights a pervasive phenomenon in Israeli prisons and detention facilities;

4- Calls upon the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories Occupied Since 1967 to follow up this case and report on it to the United Nations; and

5- Calls on the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the international community to put pressure on Israel to put an end to the use of torture and to open prisons and detention facilities for monitoring.

San Francisco, March 1: Protest Israeli Torture, Killing and Illegal Detention

27 February 2013

please circulate widely

PROTEST ISRAELI TORTURE, KILLING AND ILLEGAL DETENTION OF THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE

END US AID TO ISRAEL AND DIPLOMATIC COVER UP

FRIDAY MARCH 1ST, 4-6 PM

ISRAELI CONSULATE, 456 MONTGOMERY ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA

Endorsed: AROC, PYM, USPCN,

PAN- Palestine Action Network

Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/492099190854979/

for endorsements, please call: 415-861-7444

—————————————————————————————————-

The Palestinian people were informed of the murder of Palestinian political prisoner Arafat Jaradat. Zionist spin doctors and their supporters quickly denied the overwhelming evidence of his torture under interrogation, which he described shortly prior to his death. The Zionists are claiming that Jaradat died of natural causes. Jaradat was in his thirties and a father of two.

ARAFAT JARADAT

SAMER ISSAWI

This occurred in the context of the popular uprising inspired by the historic hunger strike of Samer Issawi who now weighs less than 110 lbs and has been striking for 218 days. Issawi is protesting his detention without due process in the most honorable tradition of non-violence. The people of Palestine, in solidarity with Samer and other political prisoners, are rising up against all forms of oppression and clashing with the occupying Zionist army by hurling rocks against their guns and armor.

Peaceful protesters pelted with gas

Palestine is rising up

It is the people in the US can be responsible for changing the course of these events. Please participate in any actions that will follow

Zionist occupation re-arrests ex-prisoner liberated under exchange deal

27 February 2013

protest-prisoners The Palestine Information Centre reported on February 27 that another former prisoner, Mahmoud Taym, released in the prisoner exchange of October 2011 (the Wafa al-Ahrar agreement) has been re-sentenced to 10 months, the remainder of his prior term.

GAZA, (PIC)– Palestinian Prisoners Center for Studies confirmed that the occupation ruled that ex-captive Mahmoud Taym from Nablus, liberated under Wafa al-Ahrar deal, will be jailed for 10 months, to complete his previous prison term.

Lawyer Mustafa Azmouty told PIC that Salem Military Court has sentenced yesterday the captive Taym to 11 months of imprisonment. He was sentenced to 10 months as completion of his previous sentence, before his release under the exchange deal, in addition to one month for entering the 1948-occupied territories without the occupation permit.

Mahmoud Taym was serving a prison term of 34 months, before being released under Wafa al-Ahrar deal after 24 months of imprisonment. The occupation re-kidnapped him 3 months ago, and imposed on him to serve the rest of his prison sentence.

Director of the Palestinian Prisoners Center for Studies, researcher Riyad al-Ashqar, said in a press statement on Tuesday that Taym was not the only liberated prisoner who was re-arrested by the occupation.

Ashqar warned of this dangerous procedure, which aims to re-arrest the ex-prisoners who had been liberated under the prisoners exchange deal, and stressed that the silence and inaction regarding these Israeli abuses encourage the occupation to continue its criminal policies against the liberated captives.

At least 14 other prisoners exchanged for Shalit were rearrested, Ashqar revealed, demanding the Egyptian sponsor to intervene for their release.

It should be noted that this is also the situation faced by long-term hunger strikers Samer Issawi and Ayman Sharawna. Issawi, who has now been engaged in a hunger strike for over 200 days, faces a potential sentence of 20 years, resuming his previous sentence. The former prisoners re-arrested are being held under Article 186 of Military Order 1651, which allows the Israeli military to re-arrest and re-impose the prior sentence of released prisoners using secret evidence of violations of their release agreement.

Addameer: HUNGER STRIKES ESCALATE: 12 Detainees on Hunger Strike, some nearing death as the Israeli Prison Service denies Addameer’s lawyers visitation rights

27 February 2013

Occupied Ramallah, 26 February 2013 – Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association can confirm that the number of prisoners on hunger strike in Israeli Occupation’s jails has increased to twelve.

Detainee Ayman Sharawna (36 years old) from Dura Al Khalil: Sharawna started his hunger strike on 1 July 2012 in protest of his re-arrest under Article 186 of Military Order 1651. This law allows a special military commission to effectively “cancel the early release” of prisoners who were released in the prisoners exchange deal. In Sharwana’s case, this means that he can be sentenced to serve the remaining 28 years of his sentence.

Sharawna briefly suspended his hunger strike in December 2012 at the promise of a court hearing to resolve his case. He resumed his hunger strike on 17 January 2013 after learning that the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) deceived him in their promise. He is currently in isolation in Ayalon Prison in Beer al-Saba’, and is subjected to harsh and degrading treatment by the IPS and the special forces.

On 20 February 2013, the Israeli Supreme Court considered an appeal in Sharawna’s name regarding Article 186 of Military Order 1651. The court decided to return the case to the Military Commission to make a decision, before it can be raised again in the Supreme Court.

Detainee Samer Al-Issawi (33 years old) from Issawiya, Jerusalem: Israeli Occupying Forces (IOF) re-arrested Issawi on 7 July 2012. He has been on a hunger strike intermittently for over 200 days in protest of his arbitrary re-arrest. Issawi is a recently released ex-prisoner who was released in the latest prisoner exchange deal on 18 October 2011. He suffers from a severe decrease in weight as his weight hovers around 45 kilograms, a 23 kg decrease since his arrest. Issawi is not strong enough to move on his own and has to use a wheelchair. He recently escalated his hunger strike and stopped drinking water.

On 21 February 2013, the Israeli Magistrate Court sentenced Issawi to eight months as of the day of his arrest, on the grounds that he violated a military order by entering the West Bank. This ruling is in addition to a forthcoming sentencing by the Military Commission under Article 186 of Military Order 1651 which will consider if Issawi will be sentenced to complete his previous sentence of 20 years.

Administrative Detainees Jafar Azzidine (41 years old) and Tarek Qa’adan (40 years old), from Araba, Jenin: Azzidine and Qa’adan started their hunger strike on 28 November 2012, in protest of their administrative detention orders. On 24 February 2013, they were transferred from Ramleh Prison Clinic to Asaf Harove Hospital as their health condition seriously deteriorated due to their refusal to drink water. They were scheduled to have hearings today in Ofer Military Court to confirm their renewed administrative detention orders for an addition three months beginning on 22 February 2013. The court hearing was postponed until tomorrow (27 February 2013) and will be held in the hospital due to their fragile health condition and their inability to move.

Eight additional detainees announced their joining of the hunger strike. They are:

Detainee Mona Qa’adan from Araba, Jenin: Qa’adan entered a hunger strike on 20 February 2013 in support of her detained brother, Tarek Qa’adan, who is also on hunger strike. It is reported that she is currently in isolation as punishment for having joined the hunger strike.

Prisoner Maher Abdellatif Younis, the longest serving Palestinian prisoner in the Occupation’s jails: Younis began his hunger strike on 24 February
2013 and is currently in Gilboa Prison. He announced his strike with the goal of shedding light on the issue of pre-Oslo prisoners (who currently number 109), and the necessity of their release en masse without appeal. Younis (54 years old) is from the town of ‘Ara in the “Triangle” region in northern Palestine, and has spent over 30 years behind bars.

Administrative detainee Hazem Al-Tawil, resident of the city of Al-Khalil (Hebron): He entered an open hunger strike on 20 February 2013 after one day of detention in protest of the issuing of a six-month administrative detention order against him. He is currently in an isolation cell in Ofer Prison. It is noteworthy that Al-Tawil previously spent a year and a half in prison on the basis of administrative detention orders.

Detainee Samer Al-Barq (38 years old) from Jayyous, Qalqilia: The military prosecuter proceeded to renew an order of administrative detention against him last Sunday 24 February 2013, for a period of three months. The detainee undertook a number of hunger strikes in the past years and has been administratively detained since July 2010. He currently languishes behind bars in Hadarim Prison.

Addameer learned that detained Younis Al-Hroub announced a hunger strike in protest of his administrative detention. PrisonersAyman Saker, Sofian Rabie and Omar Dar Ayyoub announced an open hunger strike in support of the other striking prisoners.

Addameer Prisoners’ Support and Human Rights Association expresses its concern for the lives of hunger striking prisoners and detainees and maintains that the just solution for the issue of striking prisoners lies in the meeting of their demands and the treatment of all Palestinian detainees in accordance with international humanitarian law, particularly the Third and Fourth Geneva Conventions and other conventions of international human rights law.

Addameer calls on the Arab Republic of Egypt to work seriously on releasing all prisoners freed in the prisoners exchange deal and on forcing the Occupying State to cancel Article 186 of Military Order 1651, which authorizes the detention of freed prisoners.

Addameer condemns the decision of the Israeli Prison Service to forbid lawyers from visiting detainees and prisoners on hunger strike. Addameer considers this to be the latest installment in a series of abuses faced by the organization and its staff in an attempt to silence their voices and undermine their determination to support the fight for justice and freedom for prisoners, and the end of the occupation.

ACT NOW!

*Write to the Israeli government, military and legal authorities and demand the release of the prisoners on hunger strike.

Brigadier General Danny Efroni
Military Judge Advocate General
6 David Elazar Street
Harkiya, Tel Aviv
Israel
Fax: +972 3 608 0366; +972 3 569 4526
Email: arbel@mail.idf.il; avimn@idf.gov.il
Maj. Gen. Nitzan Alon
OC Central Command Nehemia Base, Central Command
Neveh Yaacov, Jerusalam
Fax: +972 2 530 5741
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Ehud Barak
Ministry of Defense
37 Kaplan Street, Hakirya
Tel Aviv 61909, Israel
Fax: +972 3 691 6940 / 696 2757
Col. Eli Bar On
Legal Advisor of Judea and Samaria PO Box 5
Beth El 90631
Fax: +972 2 9977326

*Write to your own elected representatives urging them to pressure Israel to release the hunger strikers.

Arafat Jaradat Was Tortured To Death, Autopsy Concludes

25 February 2013

by Saed Bannoura – IMEMC & Agencies

From the IMEMC:

Palestinian Minister of Detainees, Issa Qaraqe’, reported on Sunday evening that the autopsy report of detainee Arafat Jardat, who died Saturday at an Israeli interrogation facility, revealed that the detainee died due to extreme torture.

In a joint press conference, held in the central West Bank city of Ramallah, with the head of the Palestinians Prisoners Society (PPS), Qaddoura Fares, Qaraqe’ said that the autopsy was conducted at the Abu Kabeer Forensic Facility.

The body of Jaradat carried clear signs of torture such as bruises, blisters and under skin blood clots in the back, especially over his spinal cord, on the neck and on his left shoulder, in addition to signs of torture on the left side of his chest, bruised mouth and face.

Qaraqe’ said that the autopsy also revealed that the slain detainee had a healthy heart, and healthy veins, in addition to the fact that there was no signs of a heart attack, an issue that contradicts the Israeli claim that Jaradat died of a heart attack.

Dr. Saber Al-Aaloul will release the comprehensive report to the public Monday, Qaraqe’ added.

The Minister of Detainees said that this is a war crime committed against the detainee, and added that Israel must be held accountable to its crimes.

DOCUMENT – SAUDI ARABIA: JORDANIAN HELD INCOMMUNICADO IN SAUDI ARABIA

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

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