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<h1 class="article-title">Prisoners Day Report on Palestinian
Detainees, Their Sufferings and Their Plight</h1>
<div class="article-subtitledetails">
<span class="article-details">
<span class="article-detail"><img class="icon"
src="cid:part1.06080200.03060205@freedomarchives.org"
alt="author"> Thursday April 16, 2015 07:59</span><span
class="article-detail"><img class="icon"
src="cid:part2.05050004.04050005@freedomarchives.org"
alt="author"> by Translated by: Saed Bannoura</span></span>
</div>
<blockquote class="article-intro">April 17 is Palestinian
Prisoners Day, the day of National, Arab and international
solidarity with Palestinian political prisoners, held by Israel
and facing serious, continuous (and escalating) Israeli
violations. </blockquote>
<p class="article">Marking this important day, the Palestinian
Detainees’ Committee issued this comprehensive report to
document the ongoing suffering of the detainees, and to
highlight their cause around the world. <br>
<br>
The Palestinian National Council, the highest authority of the
Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), held a meeting on April
17, 1974, and decided to declare this day a day of solidarity
with all detainees, to support their struggle, and to act in
solidarity with the detainees and their constant battle for
freedom. <br>
<br>
The day is also meant for solidarity with the families of the
detainees, and their own ongoing suffering. <br>
<br>
Since then, April 17 has become Palestinian Prisoners Day,
marked in Palestine and in various places around the world, in
cooperation with human rights activists.<br>
<br>
This year, April 17 comes amidst escalating Israeli violations,
increasing abductions of Palestinians in different parts of
occupied Palestine, and durig every hour of the day and night. <br>
<br>
The arrests target every segment of Palestinian society, while
Israeli soldiers have kidnapped, since 1967 until April of 2015,
around 850,000 Palestinians, including 15,000 women and
thousands of children. <br>
<br>
According to detailed documentations of the Palestinian
Detainees Committee, Israeli soldiers carried out more than
85,000 arrests, including 10,000 arrests of children and 1,200
women, in addition to 65 former government ministers and
legislators, and issued at least 24,000 arbitrary Administrative
Detention orders, holding thousands without charge or trial. <br>
<br>
The arrests target children, elderly, women, patients, disabled
resident, students, doctors, artists, poets, writers,
journalists, students… <br>
<br>
“The arrests and the procedures used by Israel are held in
direct violation of International Humanitarian Law; the
detainees are tortured, physically and emotionally abused,” the
Committee said. “100% of the kidnapped Palestinians said that
they face at least one form of torture, mainly physical, but
also emotional, and were subject to humiliation in front of
their families, or the public in general.”<br>
<br>
The Committee also noted a serious escalation in the abduction
of children, especially over the last four years, as soldiers
kidnapped 3,755 children, including 1,266 who were kidnapped in
2014. <br>
<br>
Israel's violations against children do not stop here, but also
include repeated assaults and excessive use of force against
them, including the use of deadly military force. <br>
<br>
The first quarter of 2015 witnessed the abduction of more than
200 children who were then abused, mistreated and intimidated,
in addition to being denied their basic rights, an issue which
poses a serious threat to their development and to their future.
<br>
<br>
The Detainees In Numbers:<br>
<br>
- 6,500 Palestinians still imprisoned by Israel, among them are;
<br>
1. 480 detainees sentenced to at least one life term.<br>
2. 200 children.<br>
3. 24 women, including four children. <br>
4. 14 legislators and one government minister. <br>
5. 30 detainees held before the Oslo Accord of 1993.<br>
6. 16 detainees who have been imprisoned for more than 25 years,
including Karim Younis and Maher Younis, who were kidnapped 33
years ago.<br>
7. 85 former detainees, who were released under the Shalit
Prisoner Swap Agreement, and were kidnapped again, afterwards;
most of them served at least 20 years before the Shalit deal. <br>
<br>
The detainees are held in 22 prisons, detention and
interrogation centers, mainly in Nafha Ramon, Asqalan, Hadarim,
Galboa’, Shatta, al-Maskobiyya, Ramla, Damoun, HaSharon, the
Negev Detention Camp, ‘Ofer and Majeddo.<br>
<br>
Female Detainees<br>
<br>
The detainees are beaten and humiliated, face degrading remarks
and confrontations, especially during their transport to
interrogation and detention centers, and are subject to torture
and intimidation. <br>
<br>
They also face threats of physical, even sexual, harm to them
and their families, in addition to extremely difficult living
conditions; they are frequently denied family visits, and face
provocative bodily searches, and are also denied access to
education. <br>
<br>
The Detainees’ Committee said that there are seven women
detained who also have husbands, sons or brothers imprisoned by
Israel, and are not allowed to see them or talk to them.<br>
<br>
Ailing Detainees<br>
<br>
More than 1,500 detainees suffer from various diseases and
health issues, largely resulting from the lack of medical
attention, contaminated cells and rooms, torture and abuse,
while 16 of them are contently living in the Ramla Prison
Clinic, suffering from paralysis and other disease, while many
require surgeries, with outside doctors not allowed to even
examine them, much less treat their afflictions. <br>
<br>
More than 80 detainees have very serious and chronic conditions;
24 of them have different types of cancer, and dozens suffer
from physical and mental disabilities. <br>
<br>
Many detainees develop psychological conditions due to ill
treatment, extremely difficult living conditions, malnutrition,
humid and dirty cells, in addition to being placed in
overcrowded rooms. <br>
<br>
Several detainees were kidnapped after being shot by Israeli
soldiers, and were tortured, including by way of beatings on
preexisting wounds during interrogation, in an attempt to
extract information and confessions. <br>
<br>
Many ailing detainees have skin diseases, pneumonia, ulcers,
tumors, renal failure, rheumatism, slipped discs, blood clots,
spinal cord conditions, diabetes, dental issue, eye issues and
many other severe conditions. <br>
<br>
Administrative Detainees<br>
<br>
Administrative Detention is the unknown enemy which thousands of
detainees face; it is detention without charge and without
trial, lawyers cannot defend the detainees as Israel claims it
has a “secret file” on each detainee, a file not accessible for
even the lawyers. <br>
<br>
An Administrative Detention order is usually between one and six
months, issued by military commanders in the occupied
territories, who base their rulings on “military and security
considerations.” <br>
<br>
Such orders are frequently renewed, in many cases exceeding ten
times, while the detainees end up being held for more than five
years without any charge. <br>
<br>
Such orders do not only target young men, but also women,
intellectuals, writers, journalists, university professors,
legislators, ministers, students and journalists. <br>
<br>
Living Conditions<br>
<br>
Living conditions are very difficult, and are largely
accompanied by torture, solitary confinement, denial of family
visits, abuse, bad food, frequent invasions and searches of the
detainees’ rooms, high fines, lack of medical attention and
numerous other violations. <br>
<br>
Deaths Among The Detainees<br>
<br>
The Detainees' Committee has documented 206 deaths since 1967,
among them are 71 who died due to extreme torture, 54 due to
lack of medical attention, 74 executed by the soldiers after
their arrest, 7 were shot dead by soldiers and prison guards, in
addition to dozens who died, following their release, of
illnesses and diseases they suffered while imprisoned. <br>
<br>
The Committee added that Israel also released a number of
detainees after their health conditions became terminal, and
that they died shortly after. <br>
<br>
Some of them have been identified as Hayel Abu Zeid, Morad Abu
Sakout, Ashraf Abu Threi’, Zakariyya ‘Issa, Seitan al-Waly,
Zoheir Lubbada, Hasan Torabi and many others, including the
latest casualty, Ja’far ‘Awad, age 26, who died on Friday, April
10.<br>
<br>
The Detainees’ Committee calls on the Palestinian People, in
Palestine and around the world, on the Arab and Islamic Nations,
and every person who believes in justice and freedom around the
world, to mark April 17 every year, to always act in solidarity
with the detainees and their cause.<br>
<br>
It urges them to practice pressure on their governments, human
rights groups and various organizations, in order to support the
struggle of the detainees, and to oblige Israel to respect
International Law. <br>
<br>
The Committee added that the struggle must continue until all
detainees are released, as a perquisite to real, comprehensive
peace and justice, and affirmed that there can be no peace,
security and stability in the region without the freedom of all
detainees, and the independence of Palestine.<br>
<br>
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