[Pnews] Rapidly Deteriorating Conditions of Palestinian Prisoners in Light of the Continuing Spread of COVID-19

Prisoner News ppnews at freedomarchives.org
Mon Mar 23 12:17:46 EDT 2020


http://www.addameer.org/news/updates-regard-rapidly-deteriorating-conditions-palestinian-prisoners-and-detainees-light 



  Updates with Regard to the Rapidly Deteriorating Conditions of
  Palestinian Prisoners and Detainees in Light of the Continuing Spread
  of the Disease (COVID-19)

March 23, 2020

According to information received by Addameer from the Israeli Prison 
Services (IPS), three detainees under interrogations and Addameer 
legally represents were transferred to al-Ramleh Prison Clinic. Those 
prisoners are Ahmad Nassar, Qais Daraghmeh, and Ibrahim Awad. Also, the 
information received did not contain but the detainees whereabout, with 
any details about their detention conditions or wellbeing.

On 18 March 2020, Addameer was informed that a Palestinian detainee 
under interrogation may have been exposed to COVID-19 transmitted by 
contact with an Israeli Security Agency interrogator who tested positive 
for the coronavirus at Petah Tikva. Addameer was then informed that the 
three mentioned detainees were transferred to Asqalan interrogation 
center, then to al-Jalameh interrogation center and then finally, to 
al-Ramleh Prison Clinic. The detainee and several others have now been 
placed in quarantine. Addameer was informed that the three mentioned 
detainees were transferred to Asqalan interrogation center, then to 
al-Jalameh interrogation center and then finally, to al-Ramleh Prison 
Clinic; yet their conditions are unknown to us. The IPS has not informed 
the detainees or their legal representatives if the detainees will be 
tested for COVID-19, or what precautions will be taken to ensure their 
safety and health. Addameer has send several letters to the IPS to seek 
information without answer.

Early March 2020, the IPS halted all family and lawyers’ visits for 
Palestinian prisoners, citing this measure as a COVID-19 precaution. 
Furthermore, detainees are not brought to court for their hearings, 
meaning that their legal representatives are barred from direct 
communication, and only allowed phone calls with them. There are 
currently a number of Palestinian detainees placed under interrogation, 
prohibited from lawyers’ and family visits, and only allowed phone or 
video calls during their court sessions. This comes also in light of the 
IPS’s continuous refusal to install landline phones inside prisons, 
preventing the prisoners from contacting their families. In this 
situation, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is the 
only entity permitted direct communication and visits to Palestinian 
prisoners.

Current detention conditions at Israeli occupation prisons:

Despite the lack of access to information about the detention conditions 
in all Israeli occupation prisons, though what organizations are 
receiving is showing the lack of care to Palestinian prisoners. 
Prisoners not yet given the minimum hygiene needs in such sensitive 
context. Furthermore, only until recently prisoners in some of the 
prisons such as, Rimon, Ofer and al-Naqab, were given only a few of 
cleaning materials and sanitizers which are not enough for the crowded 
numbers of prisoners in those prisons. Furthermore, those prisons are 
not being sterilized in a consistent manner, in fact, they were only 
cleaned and sterilized once or twice. Finally, prisoners and their 
families expressed their inability to deposit in the prisoners’ 
cantina’s account. The IPS did give any alternatives to the prisoners 
despite the fact that prisoners depend on the cantina in terms of buying 
all their daily needs and necessities including food. Finally, the IPS 
officers are not taking any precautions, as they still conduct the 
dailies searches and daily count of prisoners, which are in total five a 
day conducted by officers who are not wearing hazmat suit, protective 
cloves, or medical face masks. Leaving Palestinian prisoners in danger 
and exposure to the virus, especially that so far, none of the 
Palestinian prisoners were tested, not even their temperature was taken.

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