RAMALLAH, September 13, 2015
(WAFA) – Israeli prison authorities have been depriving a Palestinian hunger
striking prisoner of medical care, according to the Palestinian Prisoner's Club
(PPC).
PPC said prisoner Belal Dawoud
from Bethlehem, who started a hunger strike on August 24 in protest of his
administrative detention without charge or trial, has been denied a medical
drug which he takes for a chronic brain disease.
Dawoud, 26, who suspended his hunger
strike for a few days before resuming it, has been in jail without charge or trial
for seven months now, PPC added.
To be noted, six Palestinian
administrative detainees in Israeli jails have been on hunger strike against
detention without charge or trial since August 20. The detainees are: Nidal Abu
Akr, Shadi Maali, Ghassan Zawahreh, Bader Ruzza, Munir Abu Sharar, and Sleman
Eskafi.
Meanwhile, PPC reported that
three Palestinian detainees were assaulted and beaten up by Israeli soldiers
who detained them from their homes in the village of Nabi Saleh, west of
Ramallah, on September 8. The three were identified as two brothers Udai and
Lo’ai Tamimi, and Osaid Amara.
Under administrative
detention policies, Israeli authorities can hold detainees for indefinite periods
of time based on secret information and without charging them or allowing them
to stand trial.
Currently, some 500
detainees are serving administrative detention in several Israeli jails.
Israel routinely uses
administrative detention against Palestinians. Statistics show that over the
years, thousands of Palestinians have been held in Israeli custody as
administrative detainees for extended periods of time.
The Israel human
rights group B’Tselem says, “International law stipulates that [administrative
detention] may be exercised only in very exceptional cases – and then only as a
last possible resort, when there are no other means available to prevent the
danger.”
“Israel's use of
administrative detention blatantly violates the restrictions of international
law. Israel carries it out in a highly classified manner that denies detainees
the possibility of mounting a proper defense.”
In April 2015, the
United Nations Human Rights Office (OHCHR) expressed concern due to the
continued and increasing use of administrative detention by Israeli authorities
against Palestinians.
The Israeli practice
of administrative detention has been condemned on numerous occasions by the UN
Human Rights Office and the Human Rights Committee that oversees implementation
of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Israel has
ratified.
According to human
rights groups, medical negligence has been a systematic policy in Israeli
jails.
There are some 1500
sick prisoners in Israeli jails, of whom 80 prisoners are suffering from
serious health problems and do not receive the necessary treatment; they suffer
from malignant diseases, paralysis, and disabilities, in addition to cases of
mental illness and neurological disorder.
M.N./T.R.
