A PALESTINIAN human rights group slammed Israeli treatment of female prisoners in a new UN-sponsored report, saying pregnant women are often shackled on their way to hospitals to give birth.
The women prisoners are held in "Israeli prisons and detention centres which were designed for men and do not respond to female needs", a report by the Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association said.
The report was sponsored by the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM).
Pregnant detainees "do not enjoy preferential treatment in terms of diet, living space or transfer to hospitals", it said.
"Pregnant prisoners are also chained to their beds until they enter delivery rooms and shackled once again after giving birth.
"The unbalanced diet, insufficient amounts of protein-rich foods, lack of natural sunlight and movement, poor ventilation and moisture all contribute to the exacerbation and the development of health problems such as skin diseases, anaemia, asthma, prolonged stomach aches, joint and back pains."
In addition, the majority of the prisoners were "subjected to some form of mental pressure and torture through the process of their arrest", including beatings, insults, threats, sexual harassment and humiliation techniques.
The vast majority of Palestinian women in Israeli prisons are young -- some 13 per cent of those arrested in 2007-2008 were under the age of 18 and 56 per cent were between 20 and 30 years of age.
The detainees are often denied means to study, which violates their rights to a higher education and suffer from restrictions on visits.
In September 2008, some 60 per cent had at least one family member who was not allowed to visit them. Open visits were restricted to mothers once their children reached the age of six.
Female prisoners with a husband or other relatives also in jail were "accorded the right to family visits... after months of delays".
In addition, the Israeli prison authorities do not provide gender-sensitive rehabilitation programs, it said.
The report was based on interviews with 125 Palestinian women who were arrested, detained or imprisoned in Israeli jails between November 2007 and November 2008.
Of those, some 65 remain in prison - part of some 9,000 Palestinians currently incarcerated in Israel.
A spokesman for the Israeli prison authorities said he was not aware of the report and could not comment.
Ahrar center: Israel escalated its medical neglect policy against prisoners
[ 16/07/2009 - 01:37 PM ]
OCCUPIED PALESTINE, (PIC)-- Al-Ahrar center for prisoners’ studies and human rights said Thursday that Israel escalated the policy of medical neglect pursued against Palestinian prisoners in its jails with the aim of destroying them psychologically.
The center affirmed that the Israeli behavior against Palestinian prisoners became worse than ever after the capture of soldier Gilad Shalit, adding that Israel escalated its restrictions and punitive measures against them.
Fouad Al-Khafash, the center director, said that the prisoners in Ramle prison are living in a big stable not suitable for human use.
Khafash also said that 30 prisoners in Ramale are dying, while many others live on medical equipments or suffer from paralysis or chronic diseases, noting that there are thousands of prisoners in other jails who are living in the same misery.
He added that the Ramle prison administration provides prisoners with tons of different painkillers which palliate the pain and not eliminate it, which made the prisoners’ bodies lose their reaction to these medicines and suffer from stomach disorders and other internal diseases.
In another context, the IOF troops stormed and ransacked the house of prisoner Anas Abdelrahim in Deir Al-Ghusun town in Tulkarem and confiscated the hard disk of his personal computer. The prisoner has been questioned by Israeli interrogators since two months.
In a press release, the ministry of prisoners stated that prisoner Mohamed Hamdeo from Gaza, who was kidnapped in 1989 and is serving a life sentence, has joined the list of prisoners who served 20 years or more, thus raising the number of prisoners’ deans to 106 detainees.
The women prisoners are held in "Israeli prisons and detention centres which were designed for men and do not respond to female needs", a report by the Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association said.
The report was sponsored by the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM).
Pregnant detainees "do not enjoy preferential treatment in terms of diet, living space or transfer to hospitals", it said.
"Pregnant prisoners are also chained to their beds until they enter delivery rooms and shackled once again after giving birth.
"The unbalanced diet, insufficient amounts of protein-rich foods, lack of natural sunlight and movement, poor ventilation and moisture all contribute to the exacerbation and the development of health problems such as skin diseases, anaemia, asthma, prolonged stomach aches, joint and back pains."
In addition, the majority of the prisoners were "subjected to some form of mental pressure and torture through the process of their arrest", including beatings, insults, threats, sexual harassment and humiliation techniques.
The vast majority of Palestinian women in Israeli prisons are young -- some 13 per cent of those arrested in 2007-2008 were under the age of 18 and 56 per cent were between 20 and 30 years of age.
The detainees are often denied means to study, which violates their rights to a higher education and suffer from restrictions on visits.
In September 2008, some 60 per cent had at least one family member who was not allowed to visit them. Open visits were restricted to mothers once their children reached the age of six.
Female prisoners with a husband or other relatives also in jail were "accorded the right to family visits... after months of delays".
In addition, the Israeli prison authorities do not provide gender-sensitive rehabilitation programs, it said.
The report was based on interviews with 125 Palestinian women who were arrested, detained or imprisoned in Israeli jails between November 2007 and November 2008.
Of those, some 65 remain in prison - part of some 9,000 Palestinians currently incarcerated in Israel.
A spokesman for the Israeli prison authorities said he was not aware of the report and could not comment.
Ahrar center: Israel escalated its medical neglect policy against prisoners
[ 16/07/2009 - 01:37 PM ]
OCCUPIED PALESTINE, (PIC)-- Al-Ahrar center for prisoners’ studies and human rights said Thursday that Israel escalated the policy of medical neglect pursued against Palestinian prisoners in its jails with the aim of destroying them psychologically.
The center affirmed that the Israeli behavior against Palestinian prisoners became worse than ever after the capture of soldier Gilad Shalit, adding that Israel escalated its restrictions and punitive measures against them.
Fouad Al-Khafash, the center director, said that the prisoners in Ramle prison are living in a big stable not suitable for human use.
Khafash also said that 30 prisoners in Ramale are dying, while many others live on medical equipments or suffer from paralysis or chronic diseases, noting that there are thousands of prisoners in other jails who are living in the same misery.
He added that the Ramle prison administration provides prisoners with tons of different painkillers which palliate the pain and not eliminate it, which made the prisoners’ bodies lose their reaction to these medicines and suffer from stomach disorders and other internal diseases.
In another context, the IOF troops stormed and ransacked the house of prisoner Anas Abdelrahim in Deir Al-Ghusun town in Tulkarem and confiscated the hard disk of his personal computer. The prisoner has been questioned by Israeli interrogators since two months.
In a press release, the ministry of prisoners stated that prisoner Mohamed Hamdeo from Gaza, who was kidnapped in 1989 and is serving a life sentence, has joined the list of prisoners who served 20 years or more, thus raising the number of prisoners’ deans to 106 detainees.
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