<html>
<body>
<font size=3><br>
</font><font face="arial" size=2 color="#000080"><b>8000 Palestinians
Inside Israeli Jails, 385 Minors, 83 Females<br><br>
</b>GAZA, August9,2004 (IPC)-- </font><font face="arial" size=2>More than
8,000 inmates are currently held in 256 Israeli jails and concentration
camps including 83 female prisoners in Majedo prison, and 385 minors,
according to a report by the 'Ansar Al Assra' organization.<br><br>
Nearly 40 prisoners are afflicted with chronic diseases and in urgent
need of surgical operations, 97 prisoners have been serving for more than
20 years, while 5000-6000 have been on remand. The number of
administrative detainees – those held without charge or trial - stands at
1250. Most worryingly, nearly all Palestinian prisoners are subjected to
some kind of torture or abuse.<br><br>
Beyond severe treatment and physical and psychological pressure in
interrogation, abuse includes the threat of rape, and indeed the actual
raping of prisoners in order to force them to admit to committing
offenses or to provide information about others.<br><br>
Several minors gave affidavits to the Society’s lawyers in which they
spoke about being sexually harassed and signing baseless confessions in
order to avoid being raped.<br><br>
Wild police dogs are also used to terrify minors and to force them to
admit to offences or to inform about other people. These dogs were
used for example in Keryat Araba’ Detention Station.<br><br>
These abuses represent a dramatic deterioration in the ethical standards
throughout Israeli state apparatus.<br><br>
Ahmed Salam Rebhi from Jenin, serving his sentence in Hadarim prison,
<br>
described cells that have become overcrowded, with inmates sleeping on
the <br>
ground, denied exercise, and prevented from sending or receiving letters
<br>
from their families.<br><br>
Wae’l Dawoud from Bethlehem said that the prison service prevented them
from <br>
going to the toilet at any time other than 8-10 am.<br><br>
Medical negligence and a failure to provide healthcare to sick and
injured prisoners inside interrogation cells is another form of
torture. Medical care is used by the Israeli authorities to
blackmail prisoners to give information. An example on this is the
case of Maher Ali ar-Ra’y from Qulqelia who had to bargain with
intelligence agents in order to get medical treatment for his injured
arm.<br><br>
<b>Ansar 3 - Notorious Negev Detention Camp<br><br>
</b>Ansar 3 consists of tents surrounded by barbed wire and
watchtowers. Prisoners are confined with little or no protection
from the harsh weather conditions of the Negev desert, including
temperatures ranging from 54 degrees during the day to 0 degrees at
night. Hygiene and sanitation conditions at the facility fail to
meet minimum international standards of conditions for detention,
including those specified in Article 85 of the Fourth Geneva
Convention.<br><br>
<br><br>
In July 2004, inmates at the desert detention camp protested against the
wretched situation and returned the barely edible meals to the prison
service and hinted at undertaking an open hunger strike. This met with
the flexing of Israeli military muscles however, with tanks moving to the
entrances of the detention camp and troops firing tear gas into the camp.
The prison service continues to fail to provide inmates with clothes, or
allow letters and family photos.<br><br>
<b>Ashkelon & Nafha<br><br>
</b>These two jails utilize brutal techniques of control. Recently the
prison service of Ashkelon stormed confinement cells confiscating
clothes, radio sets and books from the inmates. Afterwards, and with
their arms handcuffed behind them, inmates were forced into a child-sized
chair, the Shabah, with shorter legs in front than at the back. The
handcuffs were then passed through the rungs of the chair, leaving one
arm pinioned behind his back and <br>
the other tied over the back of the chair in the prison courtyard all
night.<br><br>
Some others were moved to solitary confinement in the Negev desert
solitary ward 'Esheil', a notorious graveyard. Here not even Red
Cross or international monitoring groups are allowed access.<br><br>
<b>Female and Child Prisoners<br>
</b>The number of female prisoners now totals 83, most of whom are
serving long-term sentences. The Israeli prison service has maltreated
most of them mentally and physically, confining them with Israeli
criminals, or placing them in solitary confinement. Two prisoners Amna
Muni and Ahlam Al Tamimi were brutally beaten up by the prison
warders.<br><br>
Many Palestinian women have given birth inside Israeli jails. The
last among these was Mirvat Taha from Jerusalem who gave birth to her son
Wael on February 8th, 2003. Her child has been denied time outside in the
sun.<br>
</font><x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
<font size=3 color="#FF0000">The Freedom Archives<br>
522 Valencia Street<br>
San Francisco, CA 94110<br>
(415) 863-9977<br>
</font><font size=3><a href="http://www.freedomarchives.org/" eudora="autourl">www.freedomarchives.org</a></font></body>
</html>