Bilal Diab and Thaer Halahleh’s court hearing: Ruling postponed on their 66th day of hunger strike

3 May 2012

halahleh-thameenahusary — Thaer Halahleh in court - photo by @Thameenahusary on Twitter

The scheduled ruling of the Israeli Supreme Court on the appeal of hunger striking administrative detainees Thaer Halahleh and Bilal Diab was delayed “until further notice” today, Thursday, May 3, as Halahleh and Diab enter their 66th day of hunger strike. Halahleh and Diab are now tied with Khader Adnan in engaging in the longest-lasting hunger strike by Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

Addameer reported that:

“No decision was made in today’s Israeli High Court hearing regarding the administrative detention of Bilal Diab and Thaer Halahleh, currently on their 66th day of hunger strike. Both Bilal and Thaer were brought to the hearing and attended in wheelchairs. During the hearing, Bilal fainted and there were no doctors present inside the court. Thaer testified to the mistreatment he has suffered since his arrest. Judge Amnon Rubenstein announced that the panel of judges would make a decision after reviewing the “secret file”, but after the review there was still no decision. He said that the parties will be informed of the decision later on, without stating when.”

Both are held under administrative detention without charge or trial. Bilal Diab is shackled with six sets of shackles in his prison hospital bed, and guarded by four guards at all times, even as he has repeatedly lost consciousness.

Human Rights Watch on Wednesday called on Israel to “immediately charge or release people jailed without charge or trial under so-called administrative detention,” in a statement. “It shouldn’t take the self-starvation of Palestinian prisoners for Israel to realize it is violating their due process rights,” HRW deputy regional director Joe Stork.

Physicians for Human Rights reported on May 1 that Diab and Halahleh are in grave, life-threatening condition.

Addameer reported:

An independent doctor from Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-Israel) determined yesterday, 30 April, that Bilal is at immediate risk of death and that both he and Thaer must be transferred immediately to a civilian hospital in order to receive adequate medical attention. Yesterday’s visit by PHR-Israel was only the second visit from an independent doctor since the beginning of their hunger strikes, and only came following a legal petition filed in an Israeli District Court for the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) to allow access to Bilal and Thaer in Ramleh prison medical center. Any subsequent visit may still require going back to court.

According to PHR-Israel, “both detainees suffer from acute muscle weakness in their limbs, which prevents them from standing. They both are in need of full assistance in daily activities such as showering, though such help is not provided in the IPS clinic. They both suffer from an acute decrease in muscle tone and are bedridden, which puts them under dual threat: muscle atrophy and Thromobophilia, which can lead to a fatal blood clot.”

Furthermore, the PHR-Israel doctor noted that Bilal’s life-threatening condition includes sharp weight loss, concern for peripheral nerve damage, extremely low pulse (39 beats per minute) and blood pressure, severe dehydration, and possible internal bleeding. The doctor stated that Bilal should be transferred to a hospital immediately and receive full monitoring of his heart. Following the doctor visit, Bilal was transferred to a civilian hospital, only to be transferred back to Ramleh prison a few hours later. After collapsing this afternoon, he was transferred again to Assaf Harofeh hospital, where he currently remains. These frequent transfers only serve to further endanger his fragile condition.

The doctor noted that Thaer is also in grave condition and suffers from sharp weight loss and pain on the left side of his upper back, which, according to PHR-Israel, coupled with his other symptoms “may indicate inflammation of the pleura [membrane around the lungs] or even a blood clot, which can be lethal without proper medical attention.” Therefore, the doctor concluded that Thaer must be transferred to a civilian hospital as he urgently requires a CT scan of his lungs, which is not provided at the IPS medical center.

Addameer’s fears that Bilal and Thaer’s serious medical condition has been met with inadequate and harmful responses by the IPS in the Ramleh prison medical center have been confirmed by yesterday’s doctor visit. In addition to the reckless transfers back and forth to the hospital for Bilal, both Thaer and Bilal reported that prison guards had recently entered their cells and carried out violent searches. Thaer also reported being abused by an IPS doctor two days prior.

Moreover, Bilal and Thaer’s lawyer Jamil Al-Khatib attempted to visit Bilal this afternoon in the hospital and was refused by the IPS. He was told he had to submit a “special request” to the legal advisors of the IPS. Bilal and Thaer’s petitions to the Israeli High Court against their administrative detention orders will be heard on 3 May. A request for family visits to Bilal was also rejected today by the IPS, who stated that he was officially being denied family visits from 9 February to 9 July for “violating an IPS order” by being on hunger strike. The IPS continues to employ every obstacle at its disposal in preventing access for lawyers and doctors to hunger striking prisoners. These tactics are designed to isolate the hunger strikers as much as possible from trusted sources of support and medical information, in complete disregard to their most urgent condition.

Addameer condemns the IPS’ blatant violation of medical ethics in its treatment of Bilal, Thaer, and all the other hunger strikers requiring medical attention, and holds the Occupation responsible for their current condition. Addameer calls on the international community to demand that both Bilal and Thaer be immediately admitted to civilian hospitals, without further transfers, and that they have unconditional access to independent doctors and their lawyers. Addameer urges the European Union, the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross to take immediate action and intervene with Israel in the strongest manner possible to save Bilal and Thaer’s lives before it is too late.

PIC: Prisoner threatened with hearing loss due to medical neglect

3 May 2012

NABLUS,(PIC)— The Ahrar Center for Prisoners Studies and Human Rights has confirmed that Hani Abu Sebaa, 40, is threatened with losing his hearing because of medical neglect.

The Center said that the prisoner is suffering from kidney stones, various infections and a broken leg during interrogation.

The center said that the prison service does not take into account the prisoner’s serious health condition where he is transferred to hospital handcuffed, prompting manageress of the x-ray department at an Israeli hospital to say: “I am not proud to belong to a state which treats people this way,” when prison guards refused to remove his handcuffs for an ex-ray to be taken.

The center added that the prisoner is prevented from seeing his wife and he is being transferred several times during the year as punishment for his activities within the jail.

The Israeli occupation military court claims that the prisoner constitutes a threat to Israeli security and that his arrested for five times is to stop him from going back to his military activities, claimed the court. A report by the occupation prison service said that Sebaa is affiliated with Hamas and he is leading the prisoners in the occupation prison.

Abu Sebaa signed a consent form, which he gave to the PPS lawyer at Ofer Prison last March, allowing disclosure of his medical details to Doctors Without and appealing for medical treat.

Abu Sebaa is a father of 4 children, he spent 11 years in occupation jails, he was arrested for 5 times, and he was isolated for 6 months for an attempt to escape.

For his part, Fuad al-Khfash, the director of Ahrar Center has appealed to human rights organizations and the Red Cross to save the prisoner’s hearing which is being lost little by little, bearing the occupation full responsibility for the prisoner’s safety.

120 prisoners in Ofer join open-ended hunger strike

3 May 2012

RAMALLAH, (PIC)— Fuad Al-Khafsh, the director of Ahrar center for prisoners’ studies and human rights, has said that 120 new prisoners joined on Thursday the massive hunger strike launched by Palestinians in Israeli occupation jails.

He told the PIC that the prisoners, all in Ofer jail, were 50 from Hamas, 40 from the popular front, and 30 from Fatah, adding that the Israeli prison service immediately transferred them to isolation ward 19 in the same prison.

Khafsh said that the prison administration confiscated all prisoners’ belongings including electric appliances, clothes, and even salt and left them only one set of clothes.

He quoted prisoners as saying that the prison administration provocatively searches their cells using police dogs at any time and on daily basis.

Meanwhile, a young Palestinian woman in Gaza was taken to hospital on Wednesday after ten days of solidarity hunger strike with those prisoners.

A spokesman for the Waed society for prisoners said that Amal Abu Sbaitan was taken to hospital after fainting at the solidarity sit-in tent in downtown Gaza.

May 3, UCLA: Palestine to Pelican Bay

2 May 2012

May 3, 2012 – 6-8 pm

Dodd 147

University of California at Los Angeles

Currently, there are over 7.3 million adults in the United States who are in jail and prison, or are on parole or probation, more than any other country in the world. Since the 1960s, incarceration has sourced to over two million people. Prisoners are disproportionately the poor, African Americans and Latinos. However, this racial disparity is not only witnessed in the United States. Thousands upon thousands of Palestinians, activists, leaders, freedom fighters, have been held as political prisoners, detained, tortured, separated from their families and loved ones, at the mercy of a racist state dedicated to their eradication as a nation. Nevertheless, Palestinian political prisoners have been a backbone of the Palestinian national movement, persevering and remaining steadfast and firm in their commitment to the Palestinian struggle for liberation and return, and persevering despite the worst tortures and persecution to remain fighters, leaders, and activists.

Join Students for Justice in Palestine at UCLA for a panel discussion with Professor Jordan Camp and Rana Sharif! Co-Sponsored by MEChA Community and Labor and the Incarcerated Youth Tutorial Project!

PCHR Calls upon the International Community to Intervene to Save Lives of Bilal Diab and Tha’er Halahla Who Have Been on Hunger Strike

2 May 2012

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) is deeply concerned over the lives of two administrative detainees, Bilal Diab and Tha’er Halahla, who have been on hunger strike for 64 days. PCHR holds the Israeli occupation authorities fully responsible for the two detainees’ lives. PCHR calls upon the international community to exert pressure on Israeli occupation authorities to immediately release Diab and Halahla, as they have been placed under administrative detention without charges or trials.

Bilal Sa’eed Diab, 27, from Kufor Ra’ei village near Jenin, and Tha’er ‘Aziz Halahla, 34, from Kharas village near Hebron, who had been detained in Negev prison in Israel, have been on hunger strike since 29 February 2012. Diab has been placed under administrative detention since 17 August 2011, while Diab has been placed under administrative detention since 29 June 2010, as his detention has been renewed 8 times.

Since Diab and Halahla declared their hunger strike, IOF have rejected their requests to be released. On 23 April 2012, the Israeli military court rejected an appeal filed by the lawyer of the two administrative detainees. The Israeli military judge claimed that “the hunger strike was their choice, so they are responsible for their health conditions.” The Israeli Supreme Court will hold a session on Thursday, 03 May 2011, to consider a petition filed by the lawyer of Diab and Halahla.

Due to the deterioration of their health conditions, Halahla was transferred to the hospital of al-Ramla Prison on 22 March, and Diab was transferred to the same hospital two days later. Diab and Halahla have been receiving medical treatment at the hospital under security supervision. In a serious development with regard to their health conditions, media sources reported that Diab was transferred on Tuesday, 01 May 2012, to Assaf Harofeh Medical Center. Doctors stated that he is in a critical condition and about to enter into a comma as his body has lost salts and minerals, and due to the irregularity of his heart’s performance, his life is endangered. With regard to Halahla, he is also in a serious condition as he has not taken medical solutions for four days, and he suffers from severe pains in the back and the lung, and an increase in the count of white blood cells, which indicates that he could have attracted infection or inflammation.

Dibab and Halahla and their lawyers have not been informed of their charges, and the prosecution has informed the court of their charges as confidential information, which further confirms the arbitrariness of administrative detention procedures adopted by Israeli occupation forces against Palestinian detainees.

In the meantime, at least 2,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons and detention facilities have been on hunger strike since 17 April 2012 in order for their demands to be accomplished. These demands include: improving their living conditions in the Israeli prisons; ensuring family visitations, particularly for the prisoners from the Gaza Strip; allowing detainees to receive education; and putting an end to the solitary confinement policy, repression and night searches. This strike was preceded by an open hunger strike by 8 Palestinian prisoners at various periods.

PCHR is concerned over the deterioration of Diab’s and Halahla’s health conditions in Israeli detention, and in light continued use of administrative detention policy by Israeli occupation forces, PCHR:

1. Calls upon the international community to exert pressure on IOF to immediately release Diab and Halahla in order to save their lives;

2. Calls upon international human rights and solidarity organizations to exert more efforts to put an end to the Israeli policy of administrative detention which violates the fundamental right to fair trial.

3. Is concerned over the deterioration of living conditions of approximately 5,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails;

Statement No. 3 of the Strike Leadership

2 May 2012

The following statement was issued on May 1, 2012 by the leadership of the hunger strike in Israeli prisons, following on Statements No.1 and 2, highlighting the denial of lawyer visits, medical care and the confiscation of salt:

Our steadfast Palestinian people….

We are moving resolutely to secure our rights, and we are in this battle of the empty stomachs in order to achieve victory. We hold to our stubborn hunger to defend our dignity against the usurpations of the prison management, and reflect the determination of all of our struggling people, all of our martyrs, to achieve our basic rights, end the crime of isolation, and put an end to the arrogance and aggression of the jailers.

Our Palestinian people…

We are exposed to the worst kinds of unprecedented abuse and aggression in a desperate and failed attempt to break our will. We emphasize the following points:

First, lawyers’ visits to prisons have been blocked in an attempt to isolate us and cut us off from the outside world, to practice their crimes silently away from the spotlight and outside the view of human rights and legal institutions. Where are you, the Ministry of Prisoners? We appeal to you, to act immediately, for lawyers to go on a status of alert and go to the courts, especially the Supreme Court, to stop these practices.

Second, the management of the Prison Service has refused required medical examinations required for the strikers unless they break their strike, which led to the decision to boycott the clinic here. We call on you to expose this in the public and media.

Third, the management of prisons are preventing prisoners from having salt, and engaging in repeated inspections in a barbaric campaign to confiscate any amount of salt they might find.

Oh, masses of our people – we emphasize that this will only strengthen our determination to uphold our humanity, even if we give martyrs to achieve all of our just demands.

The Higher Committee of the Leadership of the Prisoners’ Struggle
The Fifteenth Day of the Strike
May 1, 2012

UN rights expert raises alarm over Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike in Israeli Prisons

2 May 2012

GENEVA (2 May 2012) – The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, Richard Falk on Wednesday said he was appalled by the “continuing human rights violations in Israeli prisons,” amid a massive wave of hunger strikes by Palestinian prisoners.

In extraordinary acts of collective non-violent resistance to abusive conditions connected to Israel’s prolonged occupation of Palestinian territory, more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners began an open-ended hunger strike on 17 April 2012, Palestinian Prisoners Day. This hunger strike is a protest against unjust arrest procedures, arbitrary detention and bad prison conditions. Prison authorities have reportedly taken punitive measures against those on hunger strike, including by denying them family and lawyer visits, confiscating their personal belongings and placing them in solitary confinement.

“I am appalled by the continuing human rights violations in Israeli prisons and I urge the Government of Israel to respect its international human rights obligations towards all Palestinian prisoners,” Falk said. “Israel must treat those prisoners on hunger strike in accordance with international standards, including by allowing the detainees visits from their family members.”

Falk noted that since the 1967 war, an estimated 750,000 Palestinians including 23,000 women and 25,000 children have gone through detention in Israeli jails. This constitutes approximately 20 percent of the total Palestinian population in the occupied Palestinian territory or 40 percent of the total male Palestinian population in the occupied Palestinian territory.

“Israel’s wide use of administrative detention flies in the face of international fair trial standards,” Falk said. “Detainees must be able to effectively challenge administrative detention orders, including by ensuring that lawyers have full access to the evidence on which the order was issued.” The Special Rapporteur noted that Israel currently holds around 300 Palestinians in administrative detention.
Falk called on the international community to ensure that Israel complies with international human rights laws and norms in its treatment of Palestinian prisoners.

ENDS

In 2008, the UN Human Rights Council designated Richard Falk (United States of America) as the fifth Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights on Palestinian territories occupied since 1967. The mandate was originally established in 1993 by the UN Commission on Human Rights. Learn more, log on to: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/countries/ps/mandate/index.htm

Sa’adat: Strike continues until victory despite hospitalization

30 April 2012

Imprisoned Palestinian leader Ahmad Sa’adat, the General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, confirmed he is continuing his open-ended hunger strike until the just demands of the prisoners’ movement is achieved, noting that these demands are fair, humane, and revive the prisoners’ movement and its great history of struggle.

Sa’adat said this during a visit with Mahmoud Hassan, a lawyer with Addameer, in Ramleh prison hospital, where he was moved yesterday. Hassan reported that Sa’adat called for the masses of the Palestinian people and the Arab nation, and all solidarity organizations and progressive movements around the world to support the prisoners’ strike and the prisoners’ struggle as part and parcel of the Palestinian national struggle to resist occupation.

Sa’adat called for the Palestinian leadership to support the prisoners’ strugle at all levels, including supporting releaed prisoners, rehabilitation for freed prisoners, and treating Palestinian political prsioners as prisoners of war.

Sa’adat praised all of the prisoners engaged in the battle of the empty stomachs, saying that struggle is the only way to achieve the prisoners’ just demands, and greeted the Palestinian people, the prisoners, his family, and all peace and justice activists wherever they are.

Hassan said that Sa’adat’s health was steadily deterioriating, and protested the Prison Service’s refusal to give him salt in violation of international laws allowing prisoners on hunger strike to access salt to maintain their bodies.

This visit came after an earlier lawyer visit, by Hassan al-Ramla was rejected by Israeli prison services.

Israeli Supreme Court to consider Diab and Halahleh cases Thursday

30 April 2012

The Israeli Supreme Court in Jerusalem will consider the appeal of imprisoned hunger strikers Thaer Halahleh and Bilal Diab on Thursday, May 3. Both are on their 63rd continuous day of hunger strike, in protest of administrative detention, under which both are held without charge or trial. Both are suffering serious health problems.

Earlier, on April 23, the occupation court in Ofer rejected the appeal submitted by Halahleh and Diab’s lawyers and continued their detention based on secret evidence, stating that they are a “security risk.” Nevertheless, Halahleh and Diab have not been charged.

Prisoners’ advocates in Palestine noted that the occupation bears full responsibility for the lives of Thaer Halahleh and Bilal Diab, and called for all international institutions and human rights organizations, particularly the UN Human Rights Council and the International Committee of the Red Cross to take action. They also called for all in ocupied Palestine ’48, including all Palestinian leaders inside Israel, to protest in solidarity with the striking prisoners and demand their freedom.

Haniyeh calls for intifada for prisoners

30 April 2012

GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh called on Monday for a new intifada to support Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, who started a mass hunger-strike two weeks ago.

The premier urged Arab and Islamic nations to intervene to support detainees, in remarks at a rally for prisoners in Gaza City.

Haniyeh stressed the unity of the government and the people in support of Palestinian detainees.

Prisoners are our first priority, and all Palestinians are behind them, he said. The prime minister charged human rights groups to “break their silence” to free all Palestinians jailed in Israel.

More than 4,000 Palestinians are imprisoned in Israel, around 320 of them without any charge.

On April 17, marking Palestinian Prisoners Day, at least 1,200 prisoners in Israeli jails launched an open-ended hunger strike, with prisoner groups estimating that 2,000 people are now refusing food.

They are demanding a change in their living conditions, and an end to solitary confinement, night raids and bans on family visits for prisoners from Gaza.

Prison authorities have responded by denying them family visits and separating them from inmates not taking part in the protest.

On Monday, PA ministry of prisoners affairs said a prison chief met imprisoned Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti and other prisoners’ representatives, saying authorities will respond soon to prisoner demands.

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