RAMALLAH, February 1, 2015 (WAFA) - The Palestinian detainees and ex-detainees affairs committee Sunday said that Palestinian prisoners, including minors, are subjected to harsh treatment during transfer between Israeli prisons as well as during arrest.
The committee highlighted an Israeli regime of transferring Palestinian prisoners, including minors, between jails in an agonizing journey that runs for unnecessary long hours.
It said that Prisoners are transferred in metal trucks, where prisoners are placed on metal seats with their hands and legs tied, in a journey that could take up to 20 long hours due to various stops made by the prison authorities, citing security reasons. Prisoners are only allowed one meal throughout the whole journey.
Prisoners continually complained about their suffering during their transfer in overcrowded trucks where many prisoners reported being physically abused during the transfer.
The committee reported the affidavit of minor prisoner Jihad Sofi, 17 from Gaza, who said that he was physically and verbally assaulted by soldiers during his transfer to Israeli Hasharon prison in the aforesaid trucks.
Meanwhile, female prisoner 14-year-old Malak al-Khatib, the youngest prisoner in Israeli jails, also reported being transferred in the same manner for a number of times
An affidavit by minor prisoner Hamza Abu Hashim, 17 from Hebron’s town of Beit Ummar, described his brutal arrest by Israeli soldiers in December 2014, where soldiers unleashed police dogs on him and stood by watching and laughing while dogs attacked and bit him throughout his body for almost ten minutes.
More than 6,500 Palestinian political prisoners are currently held in Israeli jails, of whom dozens serve multiple life sentences. About 1,500 prisoners are believed to have health problems due to medical negligence.
“Around 500 - 700 Palestinian children, some as young as 12, are arrested, detained and prosecuted in the Israeli military detention system each year. The majority of Palestinian child detainees are charged with throwing stones. No Israeli children come into contact with the military court system,” said Defense for Children International (DCI).
Israel is the only state to automatically and systematically prosecute children in military courts that lack basic standards of due process.
T.R.
