[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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