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<b><small><small><small><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/charlotte-silver/israeli-doctors-assist-torture-palestinian-prisoners">https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/charlotte-silver/israeli-doctors-assist-torture-palestinian-prisoners</a></small></small></small></b><br>
<br>
<big><big><b>Israeli doctors assist in torture of Palestinian
prisoners</b></big></big><br>
<br>
Charlotte Silver - 2 April 2016 <br>
<br>
A growing portion of the Palestinian prisoners held in solitary
confinement by Israel have gone on hunger strike to protest their
mistreatment.<br>
<br>
And a new report reveals the ways Israeli doctors are helping carry
out abuses amounting to torture.<br>
<br>
As of last Wednesday, three Palestinians serving lengthy prison
terms were refusing meals.<br>
<br>
Nahar Saadi and Isam Ahmad Zein al-Din are protesting being held in
solitary confinement for three and two years respectively.<br>
<br>
Abdullah al-Mughrabi, who announced his hunger strike this week, has
been held in isolation since February.<br>
<br>
Al-Mughrabi was transferred to a solitary confinement cell after he
was scheduled to be released.<br>
<br>
In addition, Sami Janazrah, Imad al-Batran, Abd al-Rahim Sawayfeh
and Abdul Ghani Safadi are on hunger strike to protest being held
without charge or trial in accordance with Israel’s widespread use
of administrative detention, a holdover from British colonial rule.<br>
<br>
Forty-three-year old Janazrah, arrested on 15 November 2015, stopped
eating on 3 March.<br>
<br>
That month Israeli authorities extended his administrative detention
order for an additional four months. These orders can be renewed
indefinitely in periods of up to six months.<br>
<br>
Sawayfeh announced his hunger strike on 24 March. He had previously
spent 11 years in prison and was released in 2011 as part of that
year’s prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas.<br>
<br>
He was arrested six months ago and, like 670 other administrative
detainees, has not been charged with any crime.<br>
<br>
According to Al-Quds newspaper, last week Sawayfeh refused an offer
by Israel to deport him to Jordan.<br>
<br>
His family reports that he suffers from more than one chronic
illness that they fear will be compounded by his hunger strike.<br>
Solitary confinement<br>
<br>
Over the last two years, Israel has doubled its use of solitary
confinement for all of its prisoners, both criminal and political,
according to a new report from Physicians for Human Rights–Israel
(PHRI).<br>
<br>
While the total number of Palestinians currently in isolation is
reportedly 14, that figure does not represent the uncounted number
of Palestinian detainees who are placed in solitary confinement
during their interrogation or for “punitive” reasons.<br>
<br>
“Solitary confinement is chosen for the duration of interrogations
precisely because of its devastating psychological effects on
individuals,” the report states.<br>
<br>
In 2009, the United Nations Committee against Torture found that
Israel used isolation against Palestinians to “encourage confessions
from minors,” as well as to punish violations of prison rules.<br>
<br>
PHRI writes that Israel’s secret police agency, the Shin Bet, places
Palestinians in solitary confinement on the grounds of “protecting
state security,” often based on secret information that a prisoner
cannot appeal.<br>
<br>
In 2012, following a mass hunger strike, the Israel Prison Service
agreed to release Palestinians placed in isolation by the Shin Bet.
PHRI believes this supports the view that that these placements are
arbitrary.<br>
<br>
“The real reason behind it was punishment and vengeance,” the report
states.<br>
Collusion of Israeli medical professionals<br>
<br>
PHRI finds that Israeli healthcare professionals give solitary
confinement “a medical stamp of approval” despite the World Medical
Association Declaration of Tokyo prohibiting physicians from taking
part in any way in torture or cruel punishment.<br>
<br>
In 2011, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Juan Méndez, argued
that solitary confinement for more than 15 days constitutes torture
and can result in permanent psychological damage.<br>
<br>
PHRI reviewed prisoner medical files and found that prison health
providers will explicitly state whether a prisoner is “fit for
solitary confinement” or “there is nothing to prevent solitary
confinement in this case.”<br>
<br>
Medical professionals also visit prisoners held in solitary
confinement.<br>
<br>
But in spite of the involvement of medical professionals in the
process of confining prisoners to isolation cells, Israel’s health
ministry and the Israel Prison Service do not consider the practice
a “medical matter,” thereby relieving the medical establishment of
any responsibility to intervene.<br>
<br>
Last year, PHRI wrote a letter to the health ministry outlining its
concerns over prisoners held in solitary confinement. In response,
the ministry wrote, “From the medical perspective, we see no
justification for your complaint.”<br>
<br>
An update to the World Medical Association’s Declaration of Tokyo in
2007, which the Israeli Medical Association approved, obliges
physicians to report any instance of torture they witness.<br>
<br>
The Israeli Medical Association claims that the physicians working
for the prisons are not its members. In a position paper, the IMA
established that physicians should not sanction solitary confinement
because “prolonged solitary confinement might have have negative
effects on the physical and mental health of the prisoner.”<br>
<br>
However, the IMA says that physicians are only obliged to intervene
to end the torture if they are able to “identify some concrete risk
to the prisoner’s health.”<br>
<br>
“This approach fundamentally contradicts the ethical obligations
falling to physicians,” PHRI writes, stating their duty compels them
“to prevent damages to their patients and not just stop it after it
occurred.”<br>
<br>
<br>
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