Call On The Arab League To Internationalize Prisoners' Issue

Palestinian Leaders Call On The Arab League To Internationalize Prisoners' Issue

Dr. Ahmed Bahar, Deputy Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, called on the Arab League, in a press conference on Sunday, to approve, at its meeting, effective decisions, calling on Dr. Nabil ElAraby, Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, to visit Gaza to see the prisoners' families suffering for himself.

Bahar confirmed that the Palestinian Legislative Council MPs and all the Palestinian factions and people support the prisoners' issue until they get their rights, calling on the Palestinian and Arab people for more solidarity activities, and insisting that they will stand behind them till their freedom.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Detainee Affairs Dr Attallah Abu Sebah discussed, in a phone call with Arab League Secretary General Nabil Elaraby ways to internationalize the prisoners' issue.

He called on the Arab League that is supposed to hold a meeting on the prisoners' issue to take urgent steps to support the steadfastness of the prisoners on hunger strike in occupation prisons, and to work for internationalizing their issue.

He informed the Secretary-General about the conditions of the Palestinian prisoners who went on hunger strike since more than 20 days including a number of women and children demanding their basic human rights mandated by international and humanitarian law which is violated by the occupation.

Abu Sabah stressed that the strikers' demands are represented in ending the isolation policy, medical neglect, strip search, storming prisoners' rooms, and allowing visits and other basic rights.

He said that the occupation authorities isolated the captives’ movement leadership in an attempt to prevent the prisoners from practicing their right of striking, exercising all forms of punitive measures and torture.

He called on the Arab League to activate the prisoners' issue in all international and humanitarian forums especially General Assembly of the United Nations, the UN Security Council and UN Human Rights Council and other forums in order to internationalize the prisoners' issue and stop the occupation violations against the prisoners' humanitarian demands.

For his part, Al-Araby confirmed that the Arab League will hold an urgent meeting on Sunday at level of permanent representatives to discuss the situation of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons and to submit a request to the UN General Assembly to hold an exceptional session on the issue of Palestinian prisoners and demand to improve their conditions and stop all repressive measures, stressing that the Arab League is closely following the prisoners' issue.

7/5/2012

ENDS

© Scoop Media