Saturday 5 December 2009

Hosam society: Conditions of Palestinian prisoners in Etzion inhumane

PIC

[ 05/12/2009 - 04:02 PM ]


GAZA, (PIC)-- Hosam society for detainees and ex-detainees said Saturday that the incarceration conditions of Palestinian prisoners in Etzion prison are extremely inhumane because of the prison administration’s repressive practices against them.

The society explained in a statement that Etzion administration does not provide prisoners with adequate food or allow them to bathe especially those placed in isolation, which led to the outbreak of skin diseases among them.

It added that the prisoners are deprived of sleep and going to bathrooms as well as they are often physically assaulted and exposed to psychological pressure through demanding them to collaborate with Israel in exchange for improving their imprisonment conditions.

In another related context, specialist in prisoners’ affairs Abdelnasser Farwana stated Saturday that any negotiations which do not give long-serving prisoners freedom are meaningless and any swap deal excluding them will lose its luster.

Farwana underlined that those long-serving prisoners have been in Israeli jails before the signing of Oslo agreements and the establishment of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and they number 320 detainees.

He added that those prisoners suffered much more than others, where the shortest period some of them served until now was 16 years and the longest was 32 years, noting that they suffer from deteriorating health conditions as a result of the long years of captivity and their old ages.

The specialist stressed that the Palestinian people look forward to an honorable prisoner swap deal that is able to break the Israeli standards and overrun Oslo mistakes and gaps and lead to the release of all long-serving prisoners without conditions or discrimination.

Brother of prisoner appeals for ending suffering of his sister in Israeli jails



[ 05/12/2009 - 09:41 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- The brother of female detainee Somoud Karajeh appealed to all organizations concerned with the issue of prisoners to urgently intervene and pressure the Israeli occupation authority (IOA) to end the psychological suffering his sister is exposed to in Israeli jails.

Hasan Karajeh, the brother of the prisoner, said that his 21-year-old sister was detained in October 2009 and was transferred to Hasharon prison recently after a long journey of interrogation and moving from one jail to another.

He added that his sister was exposed during investigation to many psychological pressures such as detaining her in cold cells, with no heavy clothes, which are full of moisture and bugs, and transferring her from one investigation center to another.

Karajeh also said that his sister is not allowed to receive any piece of clothes from her family or any side and until this moment she has not changed her clothes since she was detained and have nothing to protect herself against extreme cold, noting that his family sought the help of the Red Cross, but to no avail.

In another context, the Israeli Haaretz newspaper quoted Israeli security and political circles as saying that the prisoner swap deal with Hamas would not bring any change regarding the blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip.

The newspaper added that the US and Arab countries pressure Mahmoud Abbas to extend his term of office until the coming election to prevent the fall of the West Bank in the hands of Hamas following the completion of the swap deal.

It pointed to Israel's fears that the Palestinian political landscape may change because, according to Palestinian law, Hamas speaker Aziz Dweik would become the president in case Abbas resigned.

The newspaper noted that the Israeli security and political circles believe that Abbas would not leave the political arena for Hamas and would not resign, as he alleged, next month.

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