[Pnews] Palestinian Hunger Strikers Continue their Battle of Empty Stomachs

Prisoner News ppnews at freedomarchives.org
Tue Jun 24 19:06:22 EDT 2014


  Hunger Strikers Continue their Battle of Empty Stomachs Despite Daily
  Humiliation and Threats of Force-Feeding

/24 June 2014, Occupied Ramallah/--
*http://www.addameer.org/etemplate.php?id=703*

One hundred Palestinian administrative detainees continue their 62^nd 
day on hunger strike in protest of the policy of administrative 
detention, which has denied them their right to know their charges or 
stand trial.
Solidarity strikers stopped their strikes due to their deteriorating 
health conditions and the Israeli Prison Service's (IPS) refusal to 
negotiate with the hunger strikers. Addameer Prisoners Support and Human 
Rights Association is deeply concerned about the deteriorating health 
conditions of the hunger strikers, especially in light of the degrading 
and inhumane treatment they are subjected to in Israeli prisons and 
hospitals.
*"Difficult and Humiliating" Daily Suffering*
**
Signed affidavits from several detainees has confirmed the continued 
policy of shackling the hunger strikers in hospital 24 hours a day with 
their legs tied to the bed continuously and one hand shackled to the bed 
for 12 hours (from 7PM to 7AM) every night. Prisoners have also 
described the horrific and degrading conditions they are subjected to in 
order to use the restroom or shower. The intentionally humiliating 
process has been described by a hunger striker in Barzilai Medical Center:
/"When one of us needs to use the bathroom, he is taken to the bathroom 
(a few meters away from the bed) with his hands and legs shackled. When 
they reach the bathroom door, the guards unshackle his hands and keep 
the bathroom door open...If a detainee needs to use the bathroom while 
another is using it, he has to wait for the whole process to end... The 
process of showering is very complicated and humiliating. The detainee's 
bed shackles are removed and then his hands and legs are shackled until 
he reaches the bathroom. The hand shackles are removed so he can take 
off his shirt and then they are shackled again. Then his leg shackles 
are removed so he can take off his pants and undergarments while his 
hands remain shackled... The door is kept open while the detainee 
showers, and there is no shower curtain. The guard allows the detainee 
to choose if he prefers his hands or legs to be shackled during the 
shower, but in both circumstances, the bathing process is very difficult 
and humiliating."/
//
The hunger strikers have also complained they are under video 
surveillance 24 hours a day, as well as the lack of privacy and the 
continuous threats and harassment the IPS subjects them to. Their 
degrading treatment violates basic principles of international human 
rights and standards, and Addameer maintains that the detainees should 
be released immediately without condition, or held in humane conditions 
as stipulated by international law throughout the duration of their 
hunger strike.
*Health Conditions*
**
The visited detainees have all lost a significant amount of weight, low 
blood pressure, low pulse, and kidney problems, which doctors have 
warned could possibly be permanent. Detainees are also experiencing 
extreme dizziness, causing them to lose consciousness even in the middle 
of conversations or
medical examinations.
One detainee who suffers from several pre-existing health conditions, 
such as diabetes and high blood pressure, have intensified since the 
start of his hunger strike. Now he faces internal tissue damage, as well 
as numbness in his legs, severe shortage of breath and vitamin 
deficiencty. His life is in critical danger if he continues his hunger 
strike.
The detainees have been approached by the prison hospital staff to 
determine their wishes in case they lose consciousness. They have 
maintained that the doctors should act professionally and according to 
medical ethics standards.
The drastically deteriorating health conditions of the detainees 
coincides with the proposed force feeding law currently being brought 
before the Knesset that will allow  for the force-feeding of Palestinian 
hunger strikers. If this bill, which will be voted on next week, is to 
pass, it will sanction Israeli torture of Palestinian hunger strikers in 
a systematic and widespread way.
**
*Determination to Escalate the Strike*
The administrative detainees, steadfast in their position to end the 
policy of administrative detention, have promised to escalate their 
strike if their treatment continues or worsens. This promise comes in 
the midst of the current arrest campaigns since the disappearance of 
three illegal settlers, in which 147 new administrative detention orders 
have been issued, raising the total number of people currently being 
held in administrative detention to 343, the highest number held since 
August 2009.
>From their hospital beds the hunger strikers remain steadfast in their 
cause: */"Administrative detention contradicts democratic and humane 
values, especially in the arbitrary way that Israel uses it, as there is 
no justification. There should be strong resistance by everyone in 
prison or outside against this policy because it greatly harms people, 
their dignity, family and children."/*
//
  -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For more information about administrative detention and Addameer's 
Campaign to Stop Administrative Detention see: http://stopadcampaign.com 
<http://stopadcampaign.com/>
Read Addameer's summary on administrative detention:
Administrative Detention in the Occupied Palestinian Territory 
<http://www.addameer.org/etemplate.php?id=667>
*_ACT NOW!_*
*Write to the Israeli government, military and legal authorities and 
demand that the hunger strikers be released immediately:

  * Brigadier General Danny Efroni
    Military Judge Advocate General
    6 David Elazar Street
    Harkiya, Tel Aviv
    Israel
    Fax: +972 3 608 0366; +972 3 569 4526
    Email: arbel at mail.idf.il; avimn at idf.gov.il
  * Maj. Gen. Nitzan Alon
    OC Central Command Nehemia Base, Central Command
    Neveh Yaacov, Jerusalam
    Fax: +972 2 530 5741
  * Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Ehud Barak
    Ministry of Defense
    37 Kaplan Street, Hakirya
    Tel Aviv 61909, Israel
    Fax: +972 3 691 6940 / 696 2757
  * Col. Eli Bar On
    Legal Advisor of Judea and Samaria PO Box 5
    Beth El 90631
    Fax: +972 2 9977326

-- 
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415 
863.9977 www.freedomarchives.org
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