[Pnews] Israel bans 15 Palestinian hunger-striking prisoners from seeing lawyers

[Prisoner News]

*Israel bans 15 Palestinian hunger-striking prisoners from seeing lawyers*

August 10, 2016 - http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=772615

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Israel Prison Service (IPS) in Israel’s Megiddo 
prison banned 15 hunger-striking prisoners from receiving visits from 
their lawyers, according to a statement released by the Palestinian 
Prisoner’s Society (PPS) on Wednesday.

IPS claimed that the ban was imposed on the prisoners due to their 
health conditions, according to PPS, as they continued their solidarity 
hunger strike in support of Bilal Kayid, now entering his 56th day 
without food, and in protest of being held in administrative detention 
-- Israel’s policy of imprisonment without charge or trial.

IPS also reportedly banned 35 other hunger-striking prisoners from 
receiving lawyer visits at Israel’s Gilboa prison for the same reasons, 
while an order was also issued to ban lawyers from visiting 
hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners at Israel'sJalbou prison.

Shireen Eraqi, a lawyer from the Palestinian Committee of Prisoners' 
Affairs said in a statement Wednesday afternoon that all the hunger 
strikers in Jalbou prison were transferred to solitary confinement and 
all their personal belongings confiscated by IPS officials, including 
electronic devices and bed covers.


IPS also reportedly only served hot drinking water to the hunger 
strikers, banned family visitations for two months, and imposed a 600 
shekel ($157) fine on the prisoners, according to Eraqi. She added that 
the actions taken by IPS were part of the prison authorities' attempts 
to pressure the hunger strikers to stop their strikes.

Five Palestinian prisoners are currently on open hunger strikes against 
their administrative detention: brothers Muhammad and Mahmoud Balboul 
<http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=772486>, Ayyad al-Hreimi, Malik 
al-Qadi, and journalist Omar Nazzal 
<http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=772531>, while Walid Masalmeh 
is on hunger strike in protest of being held in solitary confinement.

PPS confirmed that 80 prisoners 
<http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=772561>, including Popular 
Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) Secretary-General Ahmad 
Saadat <http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=772452>, have remained 
on hunger strike in solidarity with Kayid 
<http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/08/pressure-mounts-israel-release-bilal-kayed-160802071641071.html>, 
who declared a hunger strike on June 14 after being transferred to 
administrative detention 
<http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=771883> on the day he was 
expected to be released from a 14-and-a-half-years sentence in Israeli 
prison.

Meanwhile, Israel has recently prevented the families of scores of 
Palestinian prisoners from entering Israel 
<http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=772579> to visit their 
incarcerated relatives, as widespread protest 
<http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=772534>have also been launched 
over the International Committee of the Red Cross' (ICRC) recent cuts to 
family visitations, reducing arranged visits for male Palestinian 
prisoners from two days a month to just one.

Israel's policy of deporting Palestinians outside of the occupied 
territory into prisons inside the occupying state 
<http://www.addameer.org/publications/deportation-policy-palestinian-prisoners-detainees-israeli-detention> 
is illegal under international law. According to prisoners' rights group 
Addameer, "This systematic and illegal transfer of Palestinians from the 
occupied territory also carries with it a human impact -- the 
consequence is that Palestinian relatives of prisoners and detainees who 
then require a permit to enter Israel are regularly denied family 
visitation permits, based on 'security grounds'."

"From observations by Addameer based on accounts of family members, 
these permits are systematically denied for male family members aged 
between 16 and 35.


Overall, the ongoing deportation of Palestinians detainees presents not 
just significant human implications, but also operates as part of a 
wider Israeli impunity for international crimes which threatens to erode 
the relevance of international law generally."

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