Tag: Prisoner Rights

Human rights organizations request immediate intervention from EU Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton

1st June 2014 | Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association | Ramallah, Occupied Palestine

Baroness Catherine Ashton
High Representative of the European Union
for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy
Vice-President of the European Commission
242, rue de la Loi
B-1049 Brussels

Date: 01 June 2014

Re: Mass Hunger Strike of Palestinian ‘Administrative Detainees’

Dear High Representative,

We, the Palestinian Ministry of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the undersigned human rights organizations, wish to bring to your attention the on-going mass hunger strike involving approximately 125 Palestinian detainees and prisoners and request your urgent intervention on their behalf.

The majority of the hunger strikers are protesting the continued administrative detention, which is detention without trial or charge. Administrative detention orders are issued by the Israeli Military Commander in the West Bank for periods of one to six months and can be renewed indefinitely. Administrative detainees or their lawyers are not informed of the reasons for their detention and are only informed that there is ‘secret evidence’ against them.

While administrative detention is legal under the Fourth Geneva Convention it must be used on an individual case by case basis without discrimination of any kind. However Israel has used administrative detention on a systematic basis against tens of thousands of Palestinians and is an ever present threat in the daily lives of all Palestinians. Instead of being used on an individual case by case basis it is used as punishment against the Palestinian people, as well a means of disrupting the political process given the continuous targeting of Palestinian Legislative Council members. We firmly believe that Israel’s use of administrative detention should cease immediately.

As you are aware Palestinian political prisoners have undertaken a number of hunger strikes since 2011, both on an individual and mass basis. The current strike was launched on 24 April when approximately 90 detainees began refusing food in protest of their continued administrative detention. The strike has since escalated as more detainees and prisoners have joined and the numbers continue to rise.

As of 1 June the majority of the hunger strikers have gone without food for 38 days. We have reached a critical stage and unless there is immediate intervention there will be dire consequences for the health of all those on strike. Many of the hunger strikers have recently stopped taking vitamins and are now consuming only water, which drastically increases the risk of death.

Following the launch of the strike the Israeli authorities immediately began taking punitive measures against the hunger strikers. These included the immediate isolation of all hunger strikers away from the rest of the prison population. Many of hunger strikers have also been transferred to different prisons, while the leaders of the hunger strike have also been placed in isolation. All hunger strikers have been denied salt for the first fifteen days of their strike.

The Israeli Prison Service (IPS) and Israeli Special Forces have also been conducting violent raids on the prisoner’s cells and intrusive searches the prisoners on a daily basis. In many cases the hunger strikers have been beaten and injured during these raids and were subsequently denied medical treatment.

Family visits were also immediately banned for a period of four months, with the leaders of the strike being banned visits for six months. The Israeli authorities are also attempting to limit access to the hunger strikers by restricting lawyer visits, making it extremely difficult to get a clear picture of what is actually happening inside the prisons.

The hunger strikers have also boycotted the prison clinic as they accuse the prison physicians of conspiring with the IPS to beak the strike, in violation of the World Medical Association’s Malta Declaration on Hunger Strikers. It is worth noting that many of these same tactics have been used by the Israeli authorities in an attempt to break previous strikes.

We would also like to inform you that there are currently six members of the Palestinian Legislative Council on hunger strike, all of whom are being held under administrative detention.

Another issue to major concern is the possibility that the force-feeding of prisoners will be legalized by the Israeli Knesset. The proposal for such force-feeding has recently been approved and, if voted into legislation, would have serious consequences for all those currently on hunger strike and those who wish to undertake hunger strikes in the future. According to the World Medical Association Declaration of Malta on Hunger Strikers, “Forcible feeding is never ethically acceptable”.

As you are aware the mass hunger strike of 2012 ended on 14 May 2012 after an agreement was reached between representatives of the prisoners and the IPS. At this time it was agreed that Israel would limit the use of administrative to only ‘exceptional circumstances’, as is required under international law. However, it is quite clear that Israel has reneged on the agreement as it has continued to use administrative detention on a systematic basis which has compelled the prisoners to launch a fresh strike.

Other elements of the May 2012 agreement which Israel has failed to honor are improvements in prison conditions; ending isolation as a policy; the reintroduction of education which was taking away in 2007; and the resumption of have family visits for Gaza prisoners. However, although visits for Gaza prisoners have resumed they are only taking place every two months as opposed to every two weeks for prisoners from the West Bank and Palestinian citizens of Israel.

Finally we would like to highlight the important role that Palestinian political prisoners can play as actors and agents for political change, as was shown in the 2006 National Conciliation Document of the Prisoners, which formed the basis for the recent reconciliation deal between Fatah and Hamas. While Israel has continually attempted to sideline the prisoners for its own political and strategic purposes we feel that the prisoners must and can play a central role in bringing about a genuine and lasting peace.

We call on you in your capacity as High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy to immediately:

Publicly voice concern for the hunger strikers and inform the Israeli authorities that hunger strikers are a legitimate form of protest which should not be met with punitive measures.
Publicly voice concern over Israel’s continued systematic use of administrative detention.
Pressure Israel to honor its 14 May 2012 agreement by improving prison conditions; ending the use of isolation as a policy; reintroduce access education for all prisoners; resume of bi-weekly visits for Gaza prisoners; and end the use of administrative detention; all of which are in accordance with internationally accepted norms regarding the rights of prisoners.

Signed,

Addameer Prisoners Support and Human Rights Association
Aldameer Association for Human Rights
Al-Haq
Al Mezan Center for Human Rights
Badil Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights
Defence for Children International – Palestine Section
Ensan Center for Human Rights and Democracy
Hurryyat –Centre for Defense of Liberties and Civil Rights
Jerusalem Center for Legal Aid and Human Rights
Ramallah Center for Human Rights Studies
Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counseling
Palestinian Center for Human Rights
The Public Committee against Torture in Israel
Adalah – The Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel
Physicians for Human Rights – Israel
Arab Association for Human Rights
Palestinian Prisoners Society
Ministry of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs

Human rights organizations request immediate intervention from EU Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton

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

Seven prisoners continue their hunger strikes despite increasing punitive measures

19th February 2014 | Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association | Ramallah, Occupied Palestine

Seven Palestinian prisoners continue their individual hunger strikes as prison conditions worsen. This is the highest number of strikes since September 2013.

Earlier this week, Addameer lawyer Samer Sama’an gained access to two of the three administrative detainees who started hunger strikes in early January in protest of Israel’s policy of indefinite detention without charge or trial. The widespread practice of imprisoning Palestinians under administrative detention orders is illegal according to international law.

Adv. Sama’an was able to visit Mo’ammar Banat and Akram Fasisi about the punitive measures carried out against them in reaction to their decision to hunger strike since 9 January 2014. Banat, a 26 year-old from Arroub Refugee camp, has been held under multiple administrative detention orders since 13 August 2013. Fasisi, a 31 year-old from Ithna village who previously carried out a 59-day strike in 2013, has suffered from poor health throughout his imprisonment.

Banat and Fasisi explained that on the first day of their announced hunger strike, they were immediately transferred to cold and humid isolation cells.Despite the cold weather, all of Banat and Fasisi’s belongings and blanketswere confiscated. They were denied the right to shower for the first ten days of their strikes.

They described that their isolation cells were 2×2 meters in size, only contained a small pit in the floor for them to relieve themselves, and were monitored by Israeli Prison Service (IPS) cameras 24-hours a day. It should be noted that these cameras, along with all other surveillance equipment throughout Israeli prisons, is provided by British-Danish security company G4S.

Banat and Fasisi also told Addameer that as punitive measures, they have been denied recreational hours in the yard, family visits, the ability to purchase basic supplies and goods from the prison canteen, and have been subject to frequent night raids and searches.

Banat and Fasisi report that they were transferred to Sha’are Zedek Medical Center on the fifteenth day of their strikes along withWaheed Abu Maria and Ameer Shammas, two other prisoners who are also on strike against their unlawful administrative detention. Abu Maria, a 46 year-old father from the village of Beit Ummar, has been held illegally since October 2012. Like Banat and Fasisi, he began his most recent hunger strike on 9 January 2014. Shammas, a 22 year-old from Hebron, began his strike on 11 January 2014 to protest his administrative detainment that began in September of 2013.

Banat, Fasisi, Abu Maria, and Shammas were then taken Ramleh Prison Clinic. Although the hunger strikers have reported that they are suffering from critical health conditions, including fatigue, exhaustion, severe headaches, joint pain, chest pain, and shortness of breath, Fasisi and Banat report that all of them consistently refuse medical treatment. They describe that the IPS officers shackle the prisoners’ hands and feet to the hospital beds, and that all four of them are occasionally transferred to solitary confinement cells in Ramleh Prison Clinic as punishment for their continued hunger strike.

Two other hunger strikers in Megiddo Prison also reported horrific treatment since the start of their strikes. Husam Omar and Mousa Soufian were arrested in 2002, but were interrogated for 50 consecutive days beginning on 17 June 2013. They were presented with a new list of charges, and were placed in isolation cells on 20 September 2013 until their hunger strike. They began open hunger strikes on 25 January 2014 in protest of the isolation policy. They were also subjected to punitive measures including denial of family visits, isolation in a 2×3 meter cell, confiscation of property, and daily searches despite being in completely empty cells. Most of the raids occur between midnight and 3am, they described. In addition, Soufian has developed an unidentified lump on his neck during his imprisonment.

In recent days, other lawyers have visited the hunger strikers and informed Addameer that the men have been moved to other hospitals. Further developments will be available after 20 February 2014.

The Israeli Prison Service has recommended to the Knesset to consider new legislature that would allow for the force-feeding of prisoners on hunger strike. This bill has been widely condemned by human rights and health organizations, including Physicians for Human Rights in Israel, who describes the bill as “clearly designed to subdue the prisoners.” In light of Israel’s new policy, Addameer calls for expedited intervention from international organizations and bodies in order to protect Palestinian hunger strikers from this cruel practice.

Basic Information on the Hunger Strikers:

Akram Fasisi (31 years old, Ithna, Hebron) has been on administrative detention since 16 November 2012, and his administrative detention order has been renewed three consecutive times. He started his first hunger strike on 29 September 2013 for 59 days before ending it due to deteriorating health. He announced a new hunger strike on 9 January 2014, and is currently held in Ramleh Prison Clinic.
Waheed Abu Maria (46 years old, BeitUmmar, Hebron) has been on administrative detention since 30 October 2012, and his administrative detention order has been renewed five consecutive times. He started his hunger strike in protest of this policy on 9 January 2014.
Mo’ammar Banat (26 years old, Arroub Refugee Camp) has been on administrative detention since 13 August 2013, and his administrative detention order has been renewed twice. He started his hunger strike on 9 January 2014 in protest of administrative detention. He is currently detained in Ramleh Prison Clinic.
Ameer Shammas (22 years old, Ras Al Jora, Hebron) has been on administrative detention since 2 September 2013 and started his hunger strike on 11 January 2014. He was initially in Megiddo Prison before being transferred to Ramleh Prison Clinic and finally to Assaf Harove, where he is currently detained.
Abdul Majeed Khdeirat (45 years old, Tubas) was arrested on 15 May 2013 at a checkpoint near Nablus, after being released in the 2011 prisoner exchange deal. This is not his first hunger strike, he went on hunger strike for 95 days in 2013 in protest of his re-arrest, in which he was promised a speedy trial. He started his hunger strike on 15 January 2014 in protest of his re-arrest and the delay in his trial. He is currently being held in Ramleh Prison Clinic after being held in isolation in Megiddo.
Husam Omar (30 years old, Tulkarem) was arrested on 26 February 2002 and sentenced to thirty years. He was re-interrogated for 50 days beginning on 17 June 2013 and presented with a new list of charges. On 30 September 2013 was transferred to an isolation cell in Megiddo Prison. He started his hunger strike on 25 January 2014 in protest of his indefinite period of isolation. He is currently held in isolation in Megiddo Prison.
Musa Soufian (Tulkarem) was arrested in 2002 and sentenced to life. He was also re-interrogated in late 2013 with Husam Omar and issued a new list of charges. He started his hunger strike on 25 January 2014 in protest of his imprisonment in isolation beginning on 30 September 2013. He is currently detained in Ramleh Prison Clinic.

ACT NOW!

*Write to the Israeli government, military and legal authorities and demand the release of the prisoners on hunger strike.

Brigadier General Danny Efroni
Military Judge Advocate General
6 David Elazar Street
Harkiya, Tel Aviv
Israel
Fax: +972 3 608 0366; +972 3 569 4526
Email: arbel@mail.idf.il; avimn@idf.gov.il
Maj. Gen. Nitzan Alon
OC Central Command Nehemia Base, Central Command
Neveh Yaacov, Jerusalam
Fax: +972 2 530 5741
Minister of Defense Moshe Smilansky
Ministry of Defense
37 Kaplan Street, Hakirya
Tel Aviv 61909, Israel
Fax: +972 3 691 6940 / 696 2757
Col. Eli Bar On
Legal Advisor of Judea and Samaria PO Box 5
Beth El 90631
Fax: +972 2 9977326