RAMALLAH, May 5, 2017 (WAFA) – The Committee of Prisoners’ Affairs Friday warned against Israeli intentions to hurt the life of imprisoned Fatah leader, Marwan Barghouthi, who has been leading a large-scale indefinite hunger strike in Israeli prisons.
Chairman of the Committee Issa Qaraqe‘ said the Israeli government has particularly targeted Barghouthi, who is imprisoned in al-Jalama prison in northern Israel, for his role in leading the mass hunger strike.
Qaraqe‘ added Israeli Prison Service (IPS) are placing Barghouthi under solitary confinement in al-Jalama, denying him lawyer visitations and placing conditions for such visitations.
“Barghouthi is held in small grave-like prison cell measuring barely three square meters without a window, leaving him unable to properly move and sleep in this very ed space,” said Qaraqe‘.
Barghuthi has not been permitted a short break in a courtyard since he launched the mass hunger strike on April 17, but forced to remain inside a concrete-made barely-lit cell that does not have a separate bathroom.
IPS has confiscated all the clothes and belongings of Barghouthi, who has lost 10 kilograms and is suffering from a severe drop in blood pressure, blood sugar levels and has become very frail.
By placing him under inhuman and unsanitary conditions, the IPS intended to harm the life of Barghouthi, Qaraqe‘ affirmed.
He concluded that Israeli officials’ incitement against Barghouthi raised concerns about an Israeli government’s intention to directly or indirectly eliminate him.
Some 1,500 out of 6,500 Palestinians held by Israel launched a mass indefinite hunger strike on April 17, only consuming salt and water during the strike, without additives or supplements.
The hunger strikers have denounced the torture, ill treatment and medical negligence of Palestinian prisoners by Israeli authorities.
They have also denounced Israel’s widely-condemned practice of administrative detention, which allows for internment without trial or charge for six-month intervals that can be renewed indefinitely.
K.F.
