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href="http://www.addameer.org/news/follow-naqab-prison-visit-exposes-brutality-israeli-special-unit-forces">http://www.addameer.org/news/follow-naqab-prison-visit-exposes-brutality-israeli-special-unit-forces</a></font>
<h1 id="reader-title">Follow up: Naqab prison visit exposes
brutality of Israeli special unit forces</h1>
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<div class="content clearfix"><span
class="date-display-single">09
February 2017</span><span
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id="da2a_1"> </span>
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<p class="rtejustify">Over the
past week, Israeli Prison
Service (IPS) special unit
forces, called the <em>Metzada</em>,
have carried out violent raids
in the Nafha and Naqab
prisons, both located beyond
the Green Line. On 1 February
2017, the <em>Metzada</em>
raided section 16 of the Naqab
prison, attacking the
prisoners and destroying their
belongings. The prisoners were
also subjected to physical
beatings and some were
transferred to other sections
within the prison after one
prisoner allegedly attempted
an attack. Violent attacks and
searches continued on 2
February in section 13 of the
Naqab prison after the IPS
closed off all sections of the
prison.</p>
<p class="rtejustify">Addameer’s
attorney, Farah Bayadsi,
visited Naqab Prison on 8
February 2017 to gather a
detailed outlook of the
attack. The prisoners
expressed their shock of the
brutality of the <em>Metzada</em>
raids that took place on
Wednesday, 1 February 2017.
One of the affected prisoners
stated, <em>“At approximately
19:45 pm on Wednesday, I was
in section 16 of Negev
Prison when I heard loud
screams coming from all the
sections, and a few minutes
later, a huge force of IPS
special unit forces
(Metzada) raided our
section, entered every room.
Each room was raided by 8
special unit forces, along
with guards and a police
dog.” </em>During the raid,
prisoners were shackled with
their hands behind their backs
in a painful way, forced to
sit on their knees, and were
brutally beaten all over their
body parts, with focused
beatings on chests and faces.
Additionally, prisoners were
verbally assaulted, humiliated
and were exposed to other
violations including, throwing
tear gas canister inside their
rooms, which caused
suffocation, blurry vision,
and nausea to all prisoners.</p>
<p class="rtejustify">Furthermore,
the prisoners were taken to an
outside yard by the prison
guards and violently forced to
face the ground. The <em>Metzada</em>
forces and the prison guards
continued to insult, humiliate
and beat the prisoners’ bodies
with different tools and
stepping on their heads.</p>
<p class="rtejustify">The
prisoners were kept outside in
the very cold weather until 3
am, where some of them were
not properly dressed. Later,
prisoners were taken to the
bathrooms section, where they
were searched and their heads
were smashed against the
toilets. A prisoner described
this by saying “the attack was
cruel, brutal and can under no
circumstances be justified.”</p>
<p class="rtejustify">In
addition to the aforementioned
extreme violations, the IPS
imposed a number of punitive
and restrictive measures
against the prisoners
including, isolation,
confiscation of property and
electric devices, limited
access to toilets, denial of
family visits and access to
the prison canteen for a
month, as well as prohibiting
them from washing their
clothes that were saturated
with tear gas. </p>
<p class="rtejustify">One of the
prisoners reported to
Addameer’s attorney that most
of the prisoners suffered
severe injuries as a result of
the brutal and violent attack
against them. The injuries
varied from suffocation,
blurry visions, swollen
bruised eyes, broken teeth and
<em>Shabeh</em> (the victim is
forced to sit/stand in
stressful and very painful
positions). It is worth
mentioning that none of the
prisoners have received proper
medical treatment despite
their continuous requests to
the IPS. </p>
<p class="rtejustify">Palestinian
prisoners and detainees in
Israeli prisons suffer from a
multitude of violations of
their rights under
international humanitarian law
and international human rights
law. They are routinely
subjected to physical and
psychological torture and
other cruel, degrading and
inhuman forms of treatment and
punishment. The widespread
ill-treatment that has been
documented in Israeli prisons
amounts to violations of the
Fourth Geneva Convention
Relative to the Protection of
Civilians in Times of War, and
the 1948 International
Convention Against Torture,
which was ratified by Israel
in 1991. The 1955 United
Nations Standard Minimum Rules
for the Treatment of
Prisoners, the Body of
Principles for the Protection
of All Persons under Any Form
of Detention or Imprisonment
adopted in 1988.</p>
<p class="rtejustify">Addameer
strongly condemns the
international silence on the
continued violations of the
rights of Palestinian
prisoners and detainees,
particularly the right to
freedom from degrading,
inhumane treatment, and from
torture and ill-treatment. In
closing, Addameer calls upon
the United Nations and the
International Criminal Court
of to take serious steps by
imposing sanctions on the
Israeli occupation and to
pressure it to respect its
obligations as an occupying
power towards Palestinians as
stipulated under international
conventions.</p>
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522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863.9977
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.freedomarchives.org">www.freedomarchives.org</a>
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