Some family visits to begin for only 25 Gaza prisoners

15 July 2012

Ma’an News reported on Saturday, July 14 that, once again showing their violations of the May 14 agreement to end the mass hunger strike, the Israeli prison service will only now begin allowing families of Gaza prisoners to visit (a key demand of the strike recognized in the agreement), but only for 25 prisoners and on a “limited”, “experimental” basis:

RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — The Palestinian Authority prisoners minister said Saturday that the Israeli Prison Service will allow the families of 25 Gaza prisoners to visit their loved ones in jail on an “experimental basis.”

Issa Qaraqe said the families will be able to visit starting July 16 but will be limited. There is still some opposition to letting Gaza’s 473 prisoners receive visits, he said.

Some of the limitations put in place include a ban on children while the Rimon prison is not allowed visitors at all, the official said, calling Israel’s policy toward detainees “collective punishment.”

Israel started limiting what it considers privileges for Hamas and Gaza prisoners in a bid to put pressure on Hamas to release Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who was held in Gaza until last fall.

The visitors issue was one of the key demands of the hundreds of prisoners who went on a hunger strike in the spring.

In a deal to end the strike, Israeli authorities agreed to allow limited personal visits.

Longest serving administrative detainee to be released July 15

15 July 2012

Ma’an News reported that Adnan Asfur will be freed on Sunday, July 15:

The longest serving Palestinian prisoner being held under administrative detention is set to be released on Sunday, a prisoners center said.

Adnan Asfur, 50, has been held by Israeli authorities for over three years without being charged for a crime, director of Ahrar center for prisoners Fuad al-Khafsh said Saturday.

Asfur, from Nablus, was detained on March 9, 2009, and has been imprisoned for a total of six years during his life, having been arrested by Israeli forces on 16 separate occasions.

He participated in a mass hunger strike campaign by prisoners in April, when nearly 2,000 Palestinians in Israeli jails refused to eat in protest against prison conditions and administrative detention, al-Khafsh added.

Under Israel’s administrative detention policy, prisoners can be held without formal charges for renewable periods of six months. Defendants and their lawyers are not given access to the evidence used to imprison them.

There are at least 300 people, including 22 members of the Palestinian Legislative Council, currently being held under administrative detention, according to Addameer prisoners group.

Mandela foundation calls for international inquiry into Israeli prisons

15 July 2012

Ma’an reported that The Nelson Mandela Foundation for Political Prisoners called on Saturday for an international inquiry into the situation in Israeli prisons and for an international conference about prisoners.

Speaking in Amman, Jordan in testimony to a UN committee to investigate Israeli violations of human rights in the prisons, head of the Ramallah-based foundation Buthaina Duqmaq said Israel wanted to “isolate” detainees from the rest of the world.

Duqmaq called on the international community to intervene, saying there had been no mentionable improvement to the situation, according to a press statement from the foundation.

She said Israeli authorities were still committing violations against prisoners even after their hunger strikes, and presented testimony and letters from prisoners as evidence.

Duqmaq said there are more than 1,200 families unable to visit their loved ones, while prisoners from Gaza are the more isolated due to sanctions placed on them in a bid to speed up the release of an Israeli soldier.

She called on the secretary-general of the UN to hold an urgent conference on the matter.

Child prisoners mistreated in Hasharon prison

15 July 2012

The Palestinian Information Centre reported ongoing mistreatment of child prisoners in HaSharon prison:

The administration of the Israeli Hasharon jail has forced Palestinian minors to stand in the sun heat for three hours at the pretext of searching their rooms.

Amjad Siraj, who is representing those minors, told a lawyer for the Palestinian prisoner’s society that the incident took place three days ago and that the rooms were turned upside-down in the savage search by the Israeli Nahshon unit members.

Siraj said that the conditions in the Israeli jails, as far as minors were concerned, did not change, adding that the prison administration only responded to a number of simple requests.

He said that the Nahshon unit members rummaged through the minors’ ward and forced minors to strip search.

Addameer: Hunger strikes continue for Akram Rikhawi, Samer Al-Barq and Hassan Safadi

12 July 2012

Ramallah, 12 July 2012 – Due to the Israeli Prison Service’s restrictions on access for lawyers and independent doctors, it is very difficult to ascertain confirmed updates on the status of current hunger strikers Akram Rikhawi, Samer Al-Barq and Hassan Safadi. Addameer has spoken to the families of the three hunger strikers who have confirmed that all three remain committed to their hunger strikes.

Akram Rikhawi is today on his 92^nd day of hunger strike, making him the second Palestinian prisoner in history to reach this stage of hunger strike. According to Akram’s wife after speaking to Mahmoud Sarsak, Palestinian footballer who was released on 10 July following his own 92-day hunger strike, Akram is being held in solitary confinement in Ramleh prison medical clinic. Akram’s health continues to deteriorate and he reportedly had difficulty moving his leg and arm during a visit with a lawyer yesterday.

Administrative detainee Samer Al-Barq is on his 52^nd day of renewed hunger strike today, following his 30-day strike as part of Palestinian prisoner’s mass hunger strike. His father is deeply frustrated by the lack of access to updates on his current condition.

Administrative detainee Hassan Safadi is on his 22^nd day of renewed hunger strike today, following his 71-day hunger strike, during which he experienced being forcefully given treatment by a prison doctor. Following a meeting today, the Israeli military prosecutor and intelligence representative have yet to make a decision regarding his release, which was explicitly included in the agreement ending the mass hunger strike. Mahmoud Sarsak indicated to Hassan’s family that Hassan stopped drinking water two days ago.

Addameer will continue to provide updated information as it is available and urges action on behalf of all three hunger strikers.

DCI: Urgent Appeal for Children in Solitary Confinement

12 July 2012

The following urgent appeal comes from Defence for Children International – Palestine:

Today, DCI re-released an Urgent Appeal calling for an end to the practice of placing Palestinian children in solitary confinement. DCI first issued the appeal in January after documenting 50 cases of children who reported being held in isolation in Israeli detention facilities since 2008. In June, DCI documented 3 new cases of children who report being held in isolation for between 5 and 12 days. The practice of holding children in solitary confinement has been widely criticised and according to both the UN and leading UK lawyers, may amount to torture.

In the most recent cases, one boy reports being held in solitary confinement for 5 days as punishment for going on hunger strike, whilst another boy was placed in isolation for 7 days for hanging a Palestinian flag in his cell. In the third case, a boy describes being held for 12 days in a windowless cell in “Cell No 36”, at the Al Jalame interrogation centre near Haifa.

Recommended action
Please send Urgent Appeals recommending the following:
1. The practice of using solitary confinement on children in Israeli detention facilities must be stopped
immediately;
2. That all relevant Israeli civilian and military laws and regulations be amended to ensure there is a
legally binding and enforceable prohibition on the use of solitary confinement on children held in
Israeli custody; and
3. Every detention facility, including Al Jalame and Petah Tikva, must be opened up to unbiased external
inspection, and inspectors must be given free access to any part of the facility at anytime.

Appeals to:

your elected representatives; and
The Israeli embassy in your country [list of Israeli diplomatic missions worldwide].

Mahmoud Sarsak released to hero’s welcome in Gaza

11 July 2012

Palestinian soccer star, prisoner and longest hunger striker in Palestinian history, Mahmoud Sarsak, was freed today in Gaza to a hero’s welcome. Sarsak, who engaged in a 96-day hunger strike, is a Palestinian soccer player who had travelled to the West Bank to join the national team when he was seized by Israeli military forces. He was held for 3 years under the so-called “Unlawful Combatants Law,” an analogue to administrative detention for Palestinians from Gaza, where no charges or trial are brought against the accused Palestinian. As the only prisoner held under this law, the agreement ending the mass prisoner hunger strike of May 14 did not address his case. He continued his hunger strike, drawing international attention from FIFPro, the professional football players’ association, and FIFA, the international federation governing soccer around the world. He agreed to end his hunger strike in exchange for a signed agreement that he would be released on July 10. On July 10, 2012, Sarsak returned home in Gaza to a hero’s welcome.

Palestinian liberated prisoner re-arrested in Jerusalem

8 July 2012

The Palestinian Information Centre reported on July 8, 2012 Israeli occupation forces re-arrested liberated Jerusalemite prisoner Samer Al-Aisawi from his home in Aisawiye town east of occupied Jerusalem on Saturday night, July 7.

His sister and lawyer Shireen Al-Aisawi said that the Israeli soldiers took away her brother without giving a reason.

Samer, 34, was released in the first batch of the Wafa Al-Ahrar exchange deal late last year between Hamas and Israel after serving ten years of his 30-year sentence.

The Israeli occupation forces have thus re-arrested eight prisoners liberated in that deal despite an article in the deal prohibiting their re-arrest. The Israeli prosecution is demanding that some of those re-arrested should complete their sentences after claiming they violated their release conditions.

Palestinian prisoner hospitalized with serious leg injury

5 July 2012

The Palestinian Information Centre reported that Israeli jailors transferred Palestinian prisoner Noor Jaber to hospital in serious condition on Thursday after he fainted, the Palestinian prisoner’s association said.

Amjad Al-Najjar, the chairman of the association, said that Jaber, who is serving 17 life sentences, was injured in his leg on his arrest ten years ago. He explained that Israeli interrogators soon after his arrest put salt on his injuries and hit him on his wounded leg other than using the “stapler” on his body for more than 50 times.

Najjar said that the interrogators were punishing Jaber for his role in planning an Islamic Jihad attack in Al-Khalil that killed military commander of Al-Khalil area and 16 soldiers.

Najjar said that Jaber tabled dozens of requests with the Israeli prison authority to treat his leg but to no avail, adding that the Ramle prison clinic told him that his leg has to be amputated to prevent further deterioration in his health.

Freedom Theatre Artistic Director on hunger strike in Israeli prison

5 July 2012

Press Release from The Freedom Theatre, Jenin, Occupied Palestine, July 5th, 2012

Today Nabil Al-Raee, the Artistic Director of The Freedom Theatre was accused in an Israeli military court of possessing guns, helping a wanted person (Zakaria Zubeidi) as well as three other wanted but unnamed persons. The help Nabil is accused of rendering Zakaria – who years ago was granted amnesty by the Israeli authorities – is that he has driven him in his car and given him food and cigarettes. In response to these accusations Nabil declared that he is starting a hunger strike from tomorrow. “I don’t understand why I’m here [in detention]. There is no reason for them to keep me here”. Nabil’s lawyer says: “This shows that that they are desperate, they have nothing to hold against him.”

Nabil was taken by the Israeli army on June 6th at 03:00 in the night from his house in front of his family. For two weeks he was not allowed to communicate with his lawyer or have any contact with his family. Nor were any charges made against him. Once suspicions were eventually put forward, Nabil was first suspected of keeping information that could lead to the identification of Juliano Mer Khamis’ murderer. In a later court hearing the Israeli prosecution claimed that Nabil was involved in “terror activities”. Then in a recent court hearing the military judge declared that no evidence of any illegal activity had come up during the almost one month of interrogations and that Nabil would be released. However the prosecution was given a 48 hour period to appeal and put forward this third, equally absurd accusation against Nabil.

Micaela Miranda, Nabil’s wife, attended the court hearing today: “This farce started with them accusing Nabil of being involved somehow in the murder of Juliano, then they accused him of terror activities and now it’s something else. Every court hearing we go to there’s another accusation, it’s ridiculous and it’s obvious that they are trying to find a justification for having kept Nabil incarcerated for so long.”

Smadar Ben-Natan, Nabil’s lawyer, says: “This shows that they really don’t have anything to hold against him. If these are crimes then it means that everybody in Jenin camp are guilty of them. I hope that the judge in the next court hearing will understand this and that they will release him.”

The Freedom Theatre Foundation in Sweden and The Freedom Theatre association in Jenin with its friends associations in USA, France, Italy, Scotland and Germany rebuke these accusations as pure fabrications that are part of the Israeli occupying force’s attempt to destroy The Freedom Theatre entirely.

“Maybe they thought we would break down when Juliano Mer Khamis was assassinated, but we kept on and now they are trying to suffocate us slowly but surely by harassing our employees, members and supporters with various accusations, one more absurd than the other. This systematic harassment has gone on for a year now, it’s enough!” says Jonatan Stanczak, the Managing Director of The Freedom Theatre.

Distinguished public figures such as Danny Glover, Noam Chomsky and Judith Butler along with almost 200 other people from the artistic community in the USA have called for the immediate release of Nabil and Zakaria in a statement in TimeOut magazine in New York. Artistic communities in Germany, the UK and elsewhere have made similar calls and thousands of individuals from all over the word have signed petitions and made complaints to Israeli and Palestinian representative bodies. A few weeks ago 56 members of the European Parliament signed a letter urging Catherine Ashton to take action and 19 members of the Portuguese parliament, from all political parties except the extreme right, called for Nabil’s release.

For more information, please see previous Press Release here: http://thefreedomtheatre.org/news.php?id=254

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