Category: Press Releases - Page 39 - International Solidarity Movement

Joint statement: solidarity groups call on Israel to stop administrative detention

25th May 2014 | International Women’s Peace Service, Christian Peacemakers Team, International Solidarity Movement, | Occupied Palestine

In support of Palestinian ‘administrative detainees’ on open-end hunger strike

Over one hundred and twenty five Palestinian prisoners (ninety of whom are administrative detainees) have entered the fifth week of an open-end hunger strike to protest Israel’s practice of administrative detention, a procedure under which a person is detained without charge or trial under ‘secret evidence’ that neither the accused nor their lawyer is allowed to see. Military orders to prolong administrative detention can be extended indefinitely; some Palestinians have been imprisoned by Israel for more than 10 years with no charges against them.

Detainees in Ofer, Meggido, and the Naqab prisons began their strike on 24 April 2014 and will continue until their demand for the end of the policy of administrative detention is met. New prisoners are joining the hunger strike on a regular basis. Today there are 183 Palestinians under administrative detention, nine of whom are members of the Palestinian Legislative Council.

This strike is in response to a previous prisoners hunger strike against administrative detention carried out in 2012. Israel agreed in 2012 to end the widespread use of administrative detention, but has refused to carry through.

Hunger strikers have faced severe abuse in Israeli prisons, including solitary confinement and separation from non-striking prisoners. Strikers are not permitted to have visits from their families, and visits from lawyers have been almost entirely curtailed. Prison guards have increased raids on the hunger strikers, confiscated all belongings other than clothing, and in some cases have physically assaulted prisoners. Prison officials have also denied strikers salt – the only form of sustenance besides water – that the strikers have been taking. Prison doctors have tried to coerce strikers into eating.

The rampant use of administrative detention is prohibited by the Fourth Geneva Convention, to which Israel is a signatory. Attempts by physician to force-feed, or coerce hunger strikers to eat are in violation of the World Medical Association’s Malta Declaration, of which Israel is a signatory.

As international human rights organizations supporting Palestinian non-violent resistance to the Israeli occupation, we stand in solidarity with the hunger strike and the Palestinian people who are carrying it out in Israeli prisons.

We condemn the abuse visited on them by the Israeli Prison Service, as well as Israel’s violations of international law regarding the treatment of hunger strikers and administrative detainees.

We demand that the Israeli Prison Service adheres to the international treaties and declarations of which Israel is a signatory; respects the human rights of all Palestinians it holds prisoners, administrative detainees and all the hunger strikers in particular; and that it keeps its promises and ends the illegal practice of administrative detention immediately.

We call on the world’s human rights organisations, prisoners’ rights organisations, and people of conscience all across the globe to put pressure on the Israeli authorities to stop administrative detention and instead respect universal principles of human rights and justice.

Signed:

International Women’s Peace Service (IWPS)

International Solidarity Movement

Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT)

Update on Hunger Strikes: Administrative Detainees put in Solitary Confinement, Denied Salt Supplements

7th May 2014 | Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association | Ramallah, Occupied Palestine

(Image by the Global End Administrative Detention Campaign)

The latest wave of mass hunger strikes continue for the 14th day as Palestinian prisoners demand the end of the policy of administrative detention. Administrative detention is a procedure in which Palestinians are arbitrarily arrested and detained without charge or trial based on a secret file. There are currently 183 Palestinians under administrative detention, 9 of them members of the Palestinian Legislative Council.

On 24 April 2014, the administrative detainees announced a mass hunger strike to demand their freedom. Detainees will periodically continue to join the hunger strike if the demands are not met. There are currently 95 detainees on hunger strike in Ofer, Megiddo and Naqab prisons. It should be noted that Ofer and Megiddo prisons are provided services by the British-Danish company G4S, which installed cameras and surveillance equipment used to control the Palestinian prisoners.

According to one hunger striker who spoke with Addameer lawyer Mahmoud Hassan, the detainees in the Naqab Prison have all been transferred to an isolated section, separate from the other prisoners. The cells are covered in sand. They have been ill-treated; suffering from daily searches of their cells and being permitted to change their undergarments only twice since the beginning of the strike. They are bound and handcuffed in their cells for ten hours a day.

Three of the hunger strikers in Naqab prison, Fadi Hammad, Fadi Omar and Soufian Bahar, are now in solitary confinement and one detainee, Ahmad Abu Ras, was transferred to an undisclosed location.

Furthermore, the IPS has been denying the hunger strikers salt for the last two weeks. Prisoners who engage in hunger strikes still take liquids and salt, as they are essential for survival.

Denial of salt is a continuation of the punishments against hunger strikers, and despite the grave danger it imposes on the lives of the detainees, has been institutionalized by the Israeli Supreme Court. In 2004, the Israeli Supreme Court denied a petition by Adalah: The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, and several other Palestinian and Israeli NGOs that demanded the IPS provide salt on a daily basis to hunger-striking prisoners as its denial breaches the constitutional rights of the prisoner.

The hunger strikers can potentially face harsher punishments if the IPS’s most recent proposed bill to legalize force-feeding is approved in the Knesset. The memorandum is currently up for public critique.

In addition, 42 hunger strikers have been transferred to Ayalon / Ramleh Prison, including Abd Al Rizziq Farraj and Salem Dardasawi. On 4 May 2014, their cells were raided and the hunger strikers beaten. Mohammad Maher Badr’s finger was broken during the attack and Mohammad Jamal Al-Natsheh had to be hospitalized for the injuries sustained from the attack. The prisoners are in overcrowded isolation cells, with seven hunger strikers in each. They are in their cells at all times and denied recreational hours in the yard.

Addameer maintains that the Occupation’s authorities are solely responsible for the lives of the hunger strikes. Addameer also demands that all contracting parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention pressure Israel to immediately release all administrative detainees and cease the use of administrative detention.

Mass Hunger-Strike Launched by Palestinian ‘Administrative Detainees’

24th April 2014 | Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association | Ramallah, Occupied Palestine

(Images by the Global End Administrative Detention Campaign)

Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association can confirm the launch of a mass open-ended hunger strike involving over 100 Palestinian political detainees. All those involved are being held under administrative detention, which is a procedure whereby detainees are held without charge or trial.

Today’s hunger strike can be traced back to May 2012 when an agreement was reached between the Israeli Prison Service and representatives of the prisoners, which brought an end to a mass hunger strike involving approximately 2,000 political prisoners. As part of this agreement Israel agreed to limit its use of administrative detention to only exceptional circumstances. However, since then Israel has reneged on the agreement and has continued to use administrative detention on a systematic basis leaving the detainees with little choice but to launch a fresh strike.

The strike is currently taking place in Ofer, Megiddo and the Naqab Prisons and there are plans to escalate the strike should the striking detainee’s demands not be met. The general demand of the hunger strikers is an end to the use of administrative detention. The hunger strikers are also specifically demanding that extensions to administrative detention orders are limited to one extension only.

As of 1 March 2014 there were 183 Palestinians being held without charge or trial under administrative detention, including 9 Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) members. This number has been steadily increasing over the last year. In 2014 alone, Israel has used administrative detention against 142 detainees, including renewing existing orders and issuing new orders.

Addameer lawyer Samer Sama’an today visited a number of administrative detainees, including PLC member Yasser Mansour, at the Naqab Prison. It was confirmed that 55 administrative detainees being held in the Naqab Prison have launched a hunger-strike. All striking detainees were immediately isolated by the Israeli Prison Service from the rest of the prison population and are currently being held in tents.

As mentioned administrative detainees are held without charge are trial. They are detained on completely ‘secret evidence’ and neither they nor their lawyers have access to such evidence. Some detainees have spent over eight years in prison, never knowing
what was contained in the ‘secret evidence’. While administrative detention is legal under international law, it must be used in very specific circumstance and on a case-by-case basis. This is clearly not the case given Israel has used administrative detention against tens of thousands of Palestinians.

In another development Mr. Sama’man reported that prisoners and detainees being held at the Naqab Prison wishing to meet their lawyers are forced to wait for long periods of time in tiny cells which lack any sort of ventilation. As a result many are choosing not to meet with their lawyers due to the humiliating procedures that the Israeli Prison Service has imposed on them.

Addameer holds the Israeli authorities solely responsible for the health of all hunger strikers. Addameer also demands that all contracting parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention pressure Israel to immediately release all administrative detainees and cease the use of administrative detention. Furthermore, Addameer calls on global civil society to mobilize without delay in support of the striking detainees and 5,000 Palestinian political prisoners currently being held in Israeli prisons.

For more information please see Addameer’s recent administrative detention factsheet and visit www.stopadcampaign.com

UPDATED: 20-year-old Mariam Barghouti has now been released

15th April 2014 | International Solidarity Movement | Occupied Palestine

Update Friday 18th April:

Mariam was released yesterday evening and is now home with her family.

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Update Thursday 17th April:

Mariam had a military court hearing this morning and the military judge agreed to release her on bail. Mariam’s bail has been paid and she is expected to be released later this evening.

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Update Wednesday 16th April:

At Mariam’s military court hearing today, an Israeli military judge stated that he “has doubts if the evidence supports the prosecution charges” and agreed to her release on bail. Nonetheless, he ruled that Mariam should remain in military detention until tomorrow morning, April 17^th, at 11:00, so that the military prosecution has a chance to appeal his decision.

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On Friday, April 11^th, 2014, 20-year-old Mariam Barghouti, a university student at Birzeit, was arrested by Israeli forces. She was brought to court on Sunday, April 13^th where she was charged and her detention extended until Wednesday, April 16^th.

Mariam was arrested while leaving the village of Nabi Saleh. Mariam, along with Abir Kopty (a Palestinian with Israeli citizenship who was later released on bail), and three foreign journalists were detained by soldiers and searched. Mariam had been in Nabi Saleh accompanying some of the journalists on their assignments and translating for them. Soldiers on the scene fabricated charges against her and handed her over to the police who arrested her along with Abir. At her hearing yesterday Mariam was charged with stone-throwing and entering a closed military area; her detention has been extended until Wednesday. Mariam sobbed throughout the whole hearing and told her lawyer that the charges are simply lies.

Mariam is a student at Birzeit University where she is majoring in English Literature and Psychology. Mariam is also active in community work and organizing and received a two-month residency scholarship in the UK, part of a program supporting women.

Abir said that during the arrest incident on Friday, “one of the soldiers who detained us looked at me and with a big smile said, ‘I’m going to mess up your life.’ It was obvious to me then that not only will he fabricate everything for his own purposes, but he knows he has the power to do so.”

Village of Qaryut without reliable access to vital road

15th April 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team| Qaryut, Occupied Palestine

The village of Qaryut, located almost halfway between Nablus and Ramallah, has been waiting for the last year to have a reliable and secure connection to Road 60. This road is essential to connect the village with the city of Ramallah, where most of the population carries out daily activities, such as working and studying.

Currently the people of Qaryut are trying to access this road through a two-kilometer dirt road that finishes directly beside Road 60. Only half of this road is properly paved, the rest of it is uneven and rocky, where vehicles need to slow down to travel safely. This dirt road was recently blocked by an earth mound, recently removed by the people of Qaryut to allow vehicles to get close to Road 60. The local Palestinian population then waits to be picked up at Road 60 by buses or taxis travelling to Ramallah.

According to Raed Muhsen (Local Councilor), this wasn’t always the case. The road was built in 1983 and the people of Qaryut could travel freely. This arrangement ceased in 1991, during the First Intifada, when Israel forces alleged “security measures” to withdraw the permits and close off the road.

Qaryut and Road 60 could be easily connected if Israeli authorities granted the permits that are requested from Palestinian local authorities. According to Mr. Muhsen, the Local Council presented all the necessary documentation to the Israeli authorities three years ago, however the Israeli legal system continues to delay the issue, claiming that there are important “security measures” to be taken into account. The permits necessary to finally establish a connection between the local road of Qaryut and Road 60 need to be granted by the Israeli Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Defence and the Israeli Settlement Security Council.

Given the current situation, the local population of Qaryut has grown impatient with Israeli authorities. Mr. Muhsen states that a non-violent demonstration has begun in the last month to demand a reliable and secure access to Road 60. The last demonstration took place on the 11^th of April, when people from Qaryut reached Road 60 on foot and held their ground on the road for approximately one hour. The Israeli army shot tear gas canisters and stun grenades at the demonstrators, despite the non-violent nature of the protest.

The village of Qaryut, with a population of approximately 3,000 people, is surrounded by several illegal Israeli settlements such as Eli and Shilo. Taking into account nearby Palestinian villages, it could be up to 8,000 people that are forced to find a lengthy alternative route to reach Road 60. This could be approximately 20 kilometers in length, compared to the two kilometers between Qaryut and Road 60. Such distances in case of emergencies can have a critical impact on the local population, on top of the obvious economical effects.