20 child prisoners begin an open-ended hunger strike

20 child prisoners in "Hasharon" begin an open-ended hunger strike

Gaza Ministry of Detainee Affairs: Media Unit

13 June 2012

According to private sources in the Ministry of Detainees' Affairs in Gaza, 20 child prisoners at "Hasharon" prison yesterday (Tuesday, 12 June) began an indefinite hunger strike in protest at the difficult conditions in which they live, and the lack of response by prison management to their demands.

17 year-old Ahmed Lafi announced that 20 prisoners began the open-ended hunger strike to protest against the conditions experienced by prisoners in this prison for minors, and the deterioration of their living conditions. Family members are not allowed to visit with each other, they are not permitted to study, there is no laundry so they have to wash their clothes by hand

He explained that the prison administration still persists in the torture and humiliation of child prisoners even after the signing of the agreement to end the Battle of the Empty Stomachs hunger strike between the High Committee of the Leadership of the Strike and the prison service, adding that the prison administration isolates any prisoner trying to claim their rights, and places them in solitary confinement. He also said that the cells are like dungeons, the bathrooms are without doors, and there is a lack of food with only one bowl of rice between eight youths. In addition, they are subjected to inspections and provocations carried out by the Israeli intelligence.

The Department of Prisons also used hideous torture methods to extract confessions from these young people, brutally violating all international conventions that protect the rights of children.

The Israeli occupation authorities are still holding around 190 children under 18 years of age in its jails and detention camps, in circumstances similar to those in which adult prisoners are held, in terms of space, cruelty and inhuman treatment, malnutrition and lack of health care, such that the separation between minors and adults makes no difference to their treatment and cruelty to which they are subjected.

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