Isreal undermines Palestinian achievements

New Israeli committee undermines achievements made by Palestinians through protest in Israeli jails

Palestine News Network
25 July 2009

The Ministry involved in the issues of political prisoners said this evening that the situation for Palestinians in all Israeli detention centers is worsening by the day.

Although the number is reported between 9,500 and 11,000 Palestinians and Arabs in Israeli prisons the exact count is difficult as arrests occur on a daily basis. The Hamas government’s Ministry of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs is using the higher number as it reports on Saturday.

Citing both mental and physical health, it is notable that an increase in policies contravening international standards continues to be carried out. Within the past few months the intensity of mistreatment is up, says the prisoners’ ministry, because of a decision made by the Special Committee created by the Israeli government.

The director of the information department of the Palestinian prison ministry said today that the occupying administration “has spared no effort to undermine the achievements of the prisoners and their rights, while interfering in both large and small details of the lives of prisoners.” The Ministry of Detainees added that this is done “in order to ensure that their lives are narrow and disrupted, with the prisoners constantly employed in how to cope with a new situation after withdrawing from the last.”

The report includes severe deprivations of food and medical attention, along with an additional policy to revoke achievements such as no orange uniforms, news watching and visits held away from the confines of closed plastic.

LINK:http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6269

Some disturbing facts on Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails revealed in a report by law students from Stanford and Berkeley:

• At least 765 of the currently 9,493 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons are “administrative detainees” meaning that they are “held on secret evidence, do not have a right to a trial, and can be held for six-month periods that can be renewed indefinitely.” Furthermore, all “Palestinians detained by the Israeli military can be barred access to a lawyer for 90 days and held without being charged for 188 days.”
• Lawyers cannot have private interviews with their clients, and are only able to visit their clients “a few days each week,” “in violation of Israeli prison ordinances.” All confidential documents must be given to prison guards in order to reach the client. Furthermore, lawyers from the West Bank and Gaza cannot visit their clients, who are illegally held in prisons within Israel, “without permission from the Israeli military,” which is nearly impossible to get, especially for lawyers from Gaza.
• “Lawyers from the West Bank and Gaza can neither represent clients in Israeli civil courts nor appeal military court decisions to the Israeli High Court.”
• “Because it is so difficult for lawyers to visit prisons, the majority of client interviews are conducted at the military courts in the minutes before a prisoner’s hearing begins.”
• Military courts are not required to “publish the decisions of military judges,” and no justification is required other than stating that “their approval of a detention order was based on ’secret evidence.’

Download pdf file of report
defending-palestinian-prisoners.pdf

ENDS

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