16 April 2009
Around 400 residents of Nablus held a demonstration in the city center to mark Prisoners’ Day in recognition of all former and current political prisoners held in Israeli jails. Leaders of several political parties and prisoner associations gave speeches praising the steadfastness of the approximately 10,000 prisoners currently held in Israeli prisons and detention facilities. Demonstrators also carried pictures of loved ones in prison and symbolically chained their hands to emphasize the large number of Palestinian detainees.
Demonstrations were held in several cities and villages throughout the West Bank and Gaza commemorating Prisoner’s Day, which falls on the 17th of April. There are currently nearly 3,500 prisoners from the Nablus area in Israeli prisons. Hundreds of Nablus residents are being held as adminstrative detention cases, without charges or trial. Many of these prisoners are held in inhuman conditions. Dozens of cases of torture in Israeli prisons have been documented by Palestinian, Israeli and international human rights groups. Arrests in the Nablus region by Israeli forces are continuing on an almost daily basis. On the 14th of April, eight youth were arbitrarily seized by the Israeli military in Madama village, southwest of Nablus.