(Your Voice in a World where Zionism, Steel, and Fire have turned Justice Mute)
Below you shall find a report sent to the Free Arab Voice (FAV) by supporters of ADDAMEER, an organization concerned with the condition and rights of Palestinian prisoners under the Zionist occupation, with an urging to publicize it through the FAV and chiding us for not following this pivotal issue closely enough. However, while we consider the dissemination of information on the suffering of Palestinian prisoners an integral part of our mission, we disagree vehemently with some of the political assumptions underlying the report itself. For example, we regard the legal separation of Palestine in the report below into “Israel”, i.e., the part of Palestine occupied in 1948, on one hand, and “the Palestinian Occupied Territories”, i.e., the part of Palestine occupied in 1967, on the other hand, completely artificial and a dangerous pitfall which serves no useful purpose as far as the Palestinian struggle for liberation is concerned. On the contrary, the implicit admission of “Israel” in Palestine can only undermine the very cause many Palestinian political prisoners are languishing in jail for. This is not to mention that the majority of Palestinians, Arabs, and Muslims, do not in any shape or form recognize “Israel’s” right to exist. Hence, this is not even a separation that is acceptable to the people who are bearing the brunt of Zionist oppression. And what for? For the sake of scoring a tactical point about how “Israel” is moving Palestinian prisoners outside “the Occupied Territories”?!
In fact, all of Palestine is occupied. And any jail for Palestinian political prisoners in Palestine is no better or worse than any other jail for Palestinian political prisoners in Palestine. That’s because all of Palestine is in jail. The suffering of Palestinian political prisoners, hence, is merely one of many manifestations of the original problem: the occupation of Palestine, ALL of Palestine. In our opinion, this is the crux of the matter that can’t be tackled except with the total and complete destruction of Zionism in Palestine, where Zionism is, by definition, the project of establishing a “national” homeland for followers of the Jewish RELIGION in Palestine!
But do not let these remarks keep you from reading and spreading the information in the report below. On the contrary, we wouldn’t have posted it in FAV if we didn’t think that it contained a well-documented and objective appraisal on the condition of Palestinian political prisoners under the Zionist occupation. Indeed, this appraisal brings to the fore the brutality of that occupation. It includes material that can be used time and again in debates in the English language over Palestinian rights and Zionist violations. But most importantly, we insist that viewing the issue of Palestinian prisoners solely from an amorphous humanitarian perspective negates its very essence as A POLITICAL ISSUE THAT IS INEXTRICABLY TIED TO THE OCCUPATION OF PALESTINE AT LARGE. Surely, there will be those in the West who would sympathize with Palestinian prisoners solely on humanitarian basis, and that’s more than fine. But the humanitarian approach cannot possibly stand on its own. If we are not able to make that humanitarian approach a spiritual link to the more crucial political issues, if we are not able to explain that Palestinians are in horrendous jails because they are embracing a just cause, if we are not able to explain what that cause is, if we do not explain that SPECIFIC Zionist practices are merely part of the OVERALL Zionist effort to subdue the Palestinian liberation movement, then what is to stop anyone from viewing Palestinian suffering in Zionist jails as an excess that is no different from that experienced by any career criminal, murderer, or robber, in any bad prison system anywhere?! In fact, what is to stop a sympathizer with the suffering of Palestinian prisoners from CONDEMNING the cause Palestinian prisoners are lying in jail for?! That is where the liberal approach on Palestinian prisoners, adopted allegedly to win over public opinion in the West, breaks down. Hence, the political angle on Palestinian prisoners reigns supreme.
But not just any political angle! Mimicking the mainstream in the West on the Palestinian cause does not do Palestinian prisoners any good. As we pointed out above, it only serves to undermine the cause which Palestinian prisoners embrace. Admitting “Israel’s” right to exist, echoing the line of the Western media on the need for negotiations, coexistence, and the Palestinian “statelet”, and holding the hollow shield of “international legitimacy” while sweeping under the carpet the connection between the suffering of Palestinian prisoners and the struggle for LIBERATION, is neither our political line nor that of Palestinian prisoners in general. Of course, there are those Palestinians who believe that we have to talk a political language that the West can accept to get our cause accepted. But we do not think so. We think that accepting what the West accepts means accepting what is NOT good for us. We believe instead that we simply have to tell the truth about our cause, and that we should defend what we stand for any which way we know how, then the world will eventually come around if we struggle hard enough.
Thus, we made three sets of changes to the report by ADDAMEER below:
1) we moved to the end of the text their introduction rife with mainstream terminology like “negotiations”, “Palestinian state”, etc… and replaced it with this one instead. No other omissions to the body of the text itself were made.
2) we encased all references in the text to “Israel” in quotations. In fact, “Israel” is what settler-invaders call their state. The correct description for it is Occupied Palestine or the Zionist entity. We believe that using “Israel” without quotations endows a certain amount of legitimacy to that occupation. Hence the need for quotations. For more on this, please go to: http://www.freearabvoice.org/yesWeSupportPeace.htm
3) we added comments between brackets that were referenced to FAV where the report discusses the land occupied in 1948 and the land occupied in 1967 as if they were two separate legal entities.
In one word, we tried to couch the issue of Palestinian prisoners in revolutionary, as opposed to mainstream, terms.
We think the suffering of our Palestinian sisters and brothers in Zionist jails is too important to be left in liberal contexts. We think that their suffering should give us instead the added impetus to struggle and sacrifice more for the cause which they have been suffering for.
Thus, we advise all to use the information below to incite, mobilize, and organize revolutionary action for Palestine. We don’t need anyone’s sorrow, and are not pleading for anyone’s mercy.
Use the material below for what it deserves to be used for. And do not let the size of the text throw you off. In fact, the first seven pages are the main report, while the rest is appendices for those concerned.
General
Background Information on the conditions of detention of Palestinian detainees
in “Israeli” prisons and detention centers
The mass arrest campaigns conducted by the “Israeli” Defense Forces (IDF) beginning March 2002, within just a few months, resulted in the detention of approximately 15 000 Palestinians, mostly men, but also women and children. In a blink of an eye, entire villages were emptied of all men over the age of 15. “Israeli” imposed curfews also prevented those whom had been released from reaching their families for several days, leaving many families unsure as to whether their loved ones had been released, rearrested or killed.
Arrest can happen anywhere and everywhere: at
home (often followed by the ransacking of family homes, threats against family members and
sometimes the destruction of the house), on streets or roads, at “Israeli” checkpoints, and, as
was witnessed during the most recent “Israeli” invasions, in any public or private place.
Upon arrest, detainees are usually handcuffed and blindfolded. They are not informed of the reason for their arrest, nor are they told where they will be taken. Physical abuse and humiliation of the detainee by “Israeli” forces is common. Based on numerous sworn affidavits, detainees have reported that they have been submitted to attempted murder, rape, thrown down stairs while blindfolded, amongst many other forms of physical abuse.[1] During the arrest, detainees have often been forced to strip in public before being arrested. Family members have also been forced to remove their clothes in house to house arrest campaign raids.
Regulations Governing Detention and Arrest
The “Israeli” Prison Ordinance (revised 1971) consists of 114 clauses. However, there is no clause or sub-clause defining prisoners’ rights. The Ordinance provides a legally binding set of rules for the Minister of Interior, but the Minister formulates these rules himself by administrative decree. There is no provision stipulating obligations incumbent upon the authorities, nor is there a clause guaranteeing prisoner’s minimum standards of life.
In “Israel”, it is for example legally permissible to intern 20 inmates in a cell no larger than 5m long, 4m wide and 3m high. This space includes an open lavatory. The minimum standard in American and European prisons is 10.5 square meters per detainee. Prisoners may be confined indefinitely to such cells for 23 hours a day.
The Shabas – “Israeli” prison service – is in charge of investigating cases of abuse in prison but it is difficult to determine whether their intervention helps or worsens the situation.
There are approximately 20 detention centers in which Palestinian political prisoners are held in “Israeli” custody, scattered throughout “Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories” (that is, occupied Palestine – FAV). Some of these detention centers are buildings, while others are merely tents erected within military camps. Archaic prisons from the British mandate period have been reopened, such as the Ketziot Military Detention Camp in the Negev desert. Old, threadbare tents have been set up within this detention camp, exposing detainees to extreme weather conditions. Zinc huts house rudimentary hygiene facilities. At Ofer Military Detention Camp, located south of Ramallah, oil soiled hangars formerly used for military vehicles serve as holding areas for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. Negev, Ofer and Megiddo are all infested with flies, parasites, rats and other vermin.
All of these detention centers are extremely
overcrowded. Detainees sleep on wooden
planks covered by thin mattresses.
Covers are rare and often provided by the families of detainees and
human rights associations when items are allowed to enter the detention
facilities. Electricity is sparsely
provided and all movement is prohibited after sundown.
Detainees are usually in charge of preparing their own meals with very little kitchen facilities and utensils. Only wooden and plastic spoons are allowed. The food is of poor quality and provided in small quantities. Until May 2002, detainees were provided with frozen food that they were only able to defrost by sunlight. Hot drinks and meals are very rare. Basic food necessities such as olive oil, coffee, and sugar, are provided by detainees’ families and human rights associations, when possible. Getting these supplies through “Israeli” checkpoints is extremely difficult, and it is often lawyers who are able to carry these items in with them to detainees.
Palestinian minors and women are served meals prepared by other detainees. This has resulted in numerous protests from Palestinian women who are being detained with “Israeli” criminal prisoners.
There are no special dietary considerations
made for detainees who suffer chronic illnesses such as diabetes or high blood
pressure. Other detainees often share
their portions in order to provide them an adequate diet to meet their specific
needs.
Detainees are not provided a change of clothing by the prison administration. Those injured during their arrest are forced to stay in blood-soiled clothing for several months, and those who were detained in their night clothes or underwear also do not receive a change of clothing. Soap is rationed by the prison administration, and other personal hygiene items are offered infrequently and are often unsanitary. Hot water is seldom available. Each section of 120 detainees receives on bar of soap each day, and none on Friday and Saturday.
Mattresses used to sleep on are extremely
worn, often from second hand military equipment, with some infested with
vermin. Supplies to clean prison
sections are offered infrequently and are insufficient. Garbage is removed irregularly, and the
sewage system is in extreme disrepair.
A large number of detainees currently imprisoned are either wounded or ill. Many detainees taken in the arrest campaigns starting in March 2002 were injured by bullets during their arrest, particularly those held in Ofer Military Detention Camp. Prison clinics have become renown for offering only aspirin for all health treatments and physicians within the clinics are all soldiers. Health examinations are conducted through a fence, and any necessary surgery or transfer to hospital for additional medical treatment is usually postponed for long periods of time. Demands made by “Israeli” organizations to provide health care to detainees have consistently been refused, in addition to petitions made by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
As a result of the substandard conditions of
detention, detainees who are released are often faced with chronic health
problems such as skin diseases, weakness, kidney pain and ulcers.
For two years, all family visits to detainees from the Occupied Palestinian Territories (i.e., the land occupied in 1967 - FAV) have been prohibited by “Israel” (i.e. in the land occupied in 1948). All Palestinian citizens of the West Bank and Gaza Strip require special permits to travel within the 1967 borders of “Israel” (that is, the land occupied in 1948 – FAV). No such permit has been issued to families of detainees in the past two years. Several petitions have been submitted to the “Israeli” High Court, but have been systematically rejected. The ICRC has organized group visits in the past, but with great difficulty. In some instances, for example recently with detainees in Ketziot prison, the ICRC has refused to comply with “Israel’s” restrictions on visits and therefore has not been able to organize these visits.
Palestinian detainees are isolated from the
outside world, with access to books, TV, and radios usually prohibited. Mail is strictly controlled.
As a result of their visible activity in the current Intifada, women have not escaped the mass arrest campaigns. Palestinian women in detention are often faced with maltreatment on a daily basis and are often held in cells and section with “Israeli” criminal prisoners. Regular body searches are performed with brutality by prison guards; sexual harassment occurs frequently; the right to elect a representative for their collective demands is not recognized as in other prisons; solitary confinement is often used; detainees are prohibited from going outside or of using the canteen; cell searches and confiscation of personal belongings is a common practice, in addition to attacks on women by beating or firing tear gas into cells. There are currently over 47 Palestinian women held in “Israeli” prisons and detention centers, including at least 4 juveniles.
There are approximately 350 Palestinian child detainees between the ages of 12 and 18. Although the majority of child detainees are held in Telmond Prison, along with “Israeli” juvenile criminal detainees, they are also held in a variety of other detention centers. There is no procedure to separate children from adult detainees, and they are effectively treated as adult detainees, submitted to the same torture, humiliation and arbitrary trials as adults are.[2]
Palestinian minors are considered adults by
“Israeli” law from the age of 16, but in practice, at the age of 15.[3]
The “Israeli” authorities offer no provisions for education to Palestinian minors detained in “Israeli” prisons. The administration doesn’t allow books for Palestinian juveniles into prison. However, “Israeli” criminal juvenile offenders are allowed to continue their education while in detention.
Palestinian adult detainees are permitted to study through designated open university programs. However, the choice of topics is restricted, with a recent restriction placed on the following topics:“Democracy and Dictatorship”, “History of the Middle East from the New Historians”, “Democracy and National Security”, “Mass Communication”, etc.
The ruling of the “Israeli” High Court of Justice on 6 September 1999, following a petition
by human rights organizations to ban the use of torture during interrogation, does not forbid
the use of torture but rather allows that interrogation methods deemed as torture may be used in
the “necessity of defense” and in situations where a detainee is deemed a ‘ticking bomb’. At most, it offers the victim of torture a small
opportunity to submit a complaint if an abuse can be clearly proved.
As “Israel” can legally hold detainees incommunicado for several weeks,
GSS interrogators are able to use methods of torture without impunity. Legalized
torture includes for example, sleep deprivation and shackling for extended periods of time, amongst others.
In practice, Palestinian detainees are submitted to the following forms of torture:
1. Routine : sleep deprivation, shabeh (position abuse), in which detainees are shackled to a chair in painful positions, squeezing of handcuffs, beatings, slaps, kicks, physical and psychological threats and humiliation;
2. Special methods: the body tied in a contorted and extremely painful position, pressure on different parts of the body, strongly shaking the detainee after being shackled for a long period of time, head covered with a filthy, soiled sack, strangulation and other means of suffocation, pulling of hair, multiple humiliations;
3. Inside the cells: sleep deprivation, handcuffed to the bed, exposure to extreme temperatures, prolonged and continuous exposure to artificial light, solitary confinement, tear gas inside the cells, inhuman detention conditions.
GSS agents can act with full impunity. If a complaint is lodged, investigations are confidential and led by a GSS agent under the authority of the State Attorney. No agent has been charged since the responsibility for investigations was transferred to the Ministry of Justice in 1994.
Other bodies like the IDF, Border Police,
Police and others also use torture and inflict ill treatment upon detainees
during arrest, interrogation or detention.
Military Order 1500, issued on 5 April 2002 allows for detainees to be held for an initial 18 days from the day of their arrest without offering a reason for the arrest, allowing a lawyer to meet with the detainee, or the detainee being brought before a judge. Following these 18 days, the detainee can be held for an additional 8 days without being afforded the above rights. The army is also not obliged to inform the detainee’s family of their arrest or the location of their detention.
After or within this period, the person is sent to an interrogation center, placed in administrative detention, or held in custody awaiting a charge sheet and trial.
According to “Israeli” legislation, interrogation can last for up to 180 days. After the period of interrogation, military judges can extend the detention for the time needed for the public prosecutor to provide charges against the detainee. What can follow is either the judgment of the detainee, or more frequently, his/her transfer to administrative detention.
In the case of administrative detention, lawyers and detainees face charges based on secret evidence. These secret files are prepared by the GSS. This element violates International Law and Human Rights Charters but is congruent with the legislation in force in the State of “Israel”. In these conditions, it is impossible to exercise the right of defense. Theoretically, administrative detention can be extended indefinitely. Detainees do not know when they will be released and or why they are being detained. In many cases, arrest and detention are renewed at the prison’s gate. Palestinian detainees have spent up to 8 years in prison without being tried under administrative detention orders. The current longest serving Palestinian detainee in administrative detention has been held for three years without charge or trial.
Deportation, abroad or to another region of
the Occupied Palestinian Territories (i.e., the land occupied in 1967 - FAV),
following detention can be ordered as a result of either a military or High
Court ruling or as a political compromise, as was the case with the 13
Palestinians who were deported to various European countries and 26
Palestinians deported to Gaza in a political negotiation to end the siege on
the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.
Military orders are the main components of “Israeli” legislation in force in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (i.e., the land occupied in 1967 - FAV) that govern Palestinian detainees and prisoners, and are issued by the “Israeli” military commander of the Occupied Palestinian Territories (i.e., the land occupied in 1967 - FAV). Within the courts, military orders always take precedence over “Israeli” and International law. “Israeli” military courts refuse to apply international laws and conventions, and no legal claim whatsoever is possible in order to protect individuals under military occupation.
All Palestinians from the Occupied Palestinian Territories (i.e., the land occupied in 1967 - FAV) are submitted to “Israeli” military courts, even in the case of civil incidents, such as a car accident involving an “Israeli”. Military courts of appeal are the last instance. The case of Marwan Barghouti is unique in that is taking place within a civil court.
Military courts apply legislations in force
in an arbitrary manner, with no consistent application of regulations. The military legislation in itself is
discriminatory. Confessions made under
torture, for example, are enough to sentence a child to several years of
imprisonment.[4]
A Palestinian can be held in custody for 8 + 18 days before being brought before a judge. An “Israeli” citizen, however, can be held in custody for only a maximum of 48 hours before being brought before a judge. A Palestinian can be held without charge, by order of a jurist-judge, for an initial period of 30 days, which can be extended for 6 months by the legal advisor for the Occupied Palestinian Territories (i.e., the land occupied in 1967 - FAV), via a military court of appeals (this does not include the possibility of administrative detention, in which case no charges are brought against the detainee who will never be tried). An “Israeli” citizen can be held without indictment for an initial period of 15 days, which can be extended for only another 15 days.
Lawyer visits can be prohibited for up to 90 days after the day of arrest for a Palestinian detainee[5]. The meeting between an “Israeli” detainee and his attorney can be delayed for a total of 15 days.
The maximum allowable civilian sentences are considerably less severe than those allowable in the military tribunals, a major reason for the significant differential in sentences passed upon “Israelis” and Palestinians. For example, a Palestinian convicted of manslaughter by a military tribunal is subject to a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, while an “Israeli” convicted of manslaughter in a civilian court faces a maximum of 20 years.
The difference in sentencing structures is reinforced by regulations in the two penal systems regarding the early release of prisoners. Under the “Israeli” penal code, prisoners may be released after serving two-thirds of their sentence. The military orders under which Palestinians are judged do not allow for early release for any reason.
Separated and unequal before the law, the
different penal codes under which Palestinians and “Israelis” are governed
takes place in different courts; application of the law is systematically
discriminatory.
Comparative Case Studies
Sanaa, 14 years old, from Hebron was arrested after her older sister had attempted to stab a settler in the street. She was found guilty of planning to stab a settler, however the court agreed that Sanaa did not carry out her plan and, in fact, at the time of her arrest was standing alone and unaware of what was happening around her. Five months after her arrest, a three-judge court, after 3 hours of deliberation, sentenced her to 1 year in prison with an additional 4 years suspended sentence if she should commit any offence during the next 5 years. The court did not take into account her age or the fact that she did not carry out any violent act. During the whole day at the courtroom, she was not given food and her legs remained shackled. Her hands were handcuffed whenever the judges left the room. Her father was not allowed to speak to his daughter. (DCI-PS)
Nahum, 37 years old, from the illegal settlement of Bitar Ilit, was sentenced to 6 months of community service for the brutal slaying of an 11-year-old Palestinian boy. According to the eyewitnesses, Nahum brutally assassinated the boy by kicking him in the head and beating him with the butt of his rifle. Originally acquitted by the District Court of Jerusalem, the “Israeli” Supreme Court found him responsible for the vicious murder after an appeal by the prosecutors. However, Nahum received a sentence of only community service and a fine of $17,000 US.
Between December 1987 (the beginning of the first Intifada) and March 2001, “Israeli” settlers killed 119 Palestinians, including 23 children under the age of 17, in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (i.e., the land occupied in 1967 - FAV). From the serious deficiencies evidenced in investigations, or merely the lack of investigation itself, to the low sentences passed by courts, the complicity of the “Israeli” legal system in the cases of murder of Palestinians becomes evident. Of 89 cases monitored by B’Tselem over this period, only 22 were convicted: 6 of murder, 7 of manslaughter, 7 of negligent homicide, and 2 charged with firing in a residential area and possession of a weapon without permit. Only 3 convictions resulted in life sentences, from which 2 were reduced to 13 and 11 years respectively of imprisonment. Although the expected sentence for manslaughter is 20 years, the 7 settlers convicted received sentences ranging from 6 months to 7 and half years of imprisonment. While the normal sentence for negligent homicide is 3 years, of the 7 cases mentioned above, 5 received community service sentences and 2 received 5 and 18 months prison sentences. 39 files were closed without legal actions.
Between December 1987 and March 2001, 115
“Israelis” have been killed by Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian
Territories (i.e., the land occupied in 1967 - FAV). In each case, an
investigation has been opened. Only 10
cases have been closed. 33 Palestinians
were convicted of murder and all received life sentences, without the
possibility of clemency or reduction of their sentence. One Palestinian was
convicted for complicity of murder. No
Palestinian was convicted for manslaughter or negligent homicide, rather than
murder. No Palestinian was acquitted because he had acted in self-defense.
“Israeli” security forces killed 15 suspects before they were brought to trial.
In 22 cases, in addition to the prison sentence, suspect’s family house has
been demolished or sealed.
In addition to administrative detention allowing in practice the detention of every Palestinian, to the free interpretation of « security reasons » and the application of the law ruled by arbitrariness, acts defined as crimes in “Israeli” legislation also provide wide possibilities for sentencing and imprisonment. For example, participating in an exhibition to benefit a charity organization linked to Hamas is a crime of « terrorist association ». Carrying or placing a Palestinian flag is a crime in itself. Removing the rubbish put in the middle of a road by “Israeli” soldiers after they have left is another crime. Fire in the air during a wedding, as is the tradition, constitutes a danger for “Israel’s” national security, although it happens in the autonomous territories (area A). A student of a Hamas Koranic school can be sentenced to 14 months of prison for his participation at the lesson. Participation in a demonstration is a case of disrupting public order. Pouring coffee for a member of a declared illegal association is support to a terrorist organization. Palestinian national security forces are an illegal association.
· Human rights activists, in the current situation, faces the risk of arrest by “Israeli” occupation forces;
· The obstacles to freedom of movement within the West Bank, Gaza Strip and outside it, curfews and other forms of collective punishment inflicted upon the Palestinian society by the “Israeli” military occupation considerably hinders everyone’s work, among others, to collect information concerning human rights violations and verify them.
· Organizations are not allowed to enter the prisons, nor are they allowed to visit prisoners;
· The number of lawyers is limited to defend an increasing number of detainees;
· Palestinian lawyers can only defend their clients before military courts located in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (i.e., the land occupied in 1967 - FAV); for the High Court they must be members of the “Israeli” Bar association;
· The difficulties faced by lawyers in the exercise of their work are mainly related to occupation, arbitrariness and impunity.
· Very often, lawyers are not informed of the date of a hearing.
· Their access to the prisons is limited and they are searched there.
· The use of confessions made under torture (under legal as well as other forms of torture) and of submission of secret files allows only a purely superficial defense.
· The refusal to implement and abide by international laws diminishes all possibilities of ensuring the respect of basic rights.
From the beginning of the military reinvasion of the West Bank and Gaza, the Palestinian Authority has been removed of the little authority conceded to them after the Oslo Agreements, and has no real legal system in practice today. Its prisons have nearly all been demolished, apart from one in Jericho and one in Gaza that are still functioning. There are a number of unknown areas in which political detainees are held. The use of torture has been reported, but there is no existing legal research nor recourse possible in these circumstances at this time. The over 35 000 members of the police forces are usually the first target of “Israeli” military actions and, therefore, have vanished from the streets of the occupied cities. Although a Palestinian court is still active in Gaza, there is no comprehensive legal structure in effect for cases of violations of criminal laws committed by a Palestinian whose victim is a Palestinian.
The most prominent case of Palestinian Authority detention at this point in time is that of the six political detainees held in Jericho prison. As part of a political agreement to lift the siege on President Arafat’s Ramallah headquarters in April 2002, details of which were never made public, four Palestinians were tried in a kangaroo-court by the PA, sentenced to between 1 to 18 years in prison, and then transferred to Jericho Prison. The four were accused of involvement in the assassination of the “Israeli” far-right Tourism Minister, Rehavam Ze’evi.
They were tried in an impromptu Palestinian military court that violated all established Palestinian and international laws guaranteeing a fair trial with proper legal representation. Referring to applicable laws in Palestine, no legal reference can be found in order to disregard civilian courts and justify the creation of a specific military court. Furthermore, the court consisted of three people without any legal training or background. The only material presented before the court were notes written by unidentified individuals from discussions held with the four defendants while they were imprisoned in Ramallah before the siege. Yasser Arafat ratified the court decision immediately. No appeal was permitted.
In addition to the four, two Palestinian civilians, Ahmad Saadat and Fuad Shubeiki, were also transferred to Jericho under the supervision of US and British guards. The two were never put on trial, nor have they been charged or found guilty of an offence. Yet they remain incarcerated in Jericho, despite a Palestinian High Court Ruling for the release of one of the detainees. The foreign guards are charged with ensuring that these six detainees remain in continuous custody.
Is this what is meant for the Palestinian,
“Israeli”, US and British authorities by “reform” of the Palestinian Authority,
“democracy” and the “rule of law”?[6]
THOUSANDS
OF PALESTINIAN DETAINEES IMPRISONED IN INHUMAN AND LIFE-THREATENING CONDITIONS
Following the most recent “Israeli” invasion of Palestinian cities that began on March 29, 2002, the “Israeli” military has undertaken a widespread campaign of arbitrary, mass arrest of Palestinian civilians. Addameer has been following cases of those arrested and detained through visits to detention camps and prisons, as well as collecting statements from those who have been released. The conditions that detainees face violate every principle of international law and present a real threat to the lives of detainees. Addameer has collected many affidavits that reveal a conscious process of torture and maltreatment to which thousands of detainees have been exposed. The information in this report is based upon affidavits from detainees and lawyers who have visited these detention camps and prisons (see selected case studies below).
Addameer estimates that at least 5000
Palestinians have been arrested since 29 March 2002. From these arrests,
currently between 1500-2000 people remain in detention camps. Around 1000 of
these detainees have received administrative detention orders, meaning they are
detained without charge for periods up to 6 months.
Detainees are held in various “Israeli” military camps around the West Bank during their interrogation. The main camp is Ofer Detention Camp, located near Ramallah in a closed military zone. Currently around 1200 Palestinians remain detained in Ofer. Detainees in Ofer are held in tents distributed in 10 sections. Each section contains four tents that hold 25-30 people. The conditions in Ofer are extremely poor and present a threat to the life of the detainees. This includes the following:
Detainees are subject to severe physical abuse during arrest, periods of transfer to interrogation, meeting with lawyers or to other prisons. One detainee, currently detained in Ofer, provided a sworn affidavit to Addameer that soldiers were intending to kill him during his arrest (see Case Study 1 below). The abuses to which detainees are exposed include beating with clubs and fists, being severely kicked as well as verbal abuse and threats. Addameer has received a sworn affidavit from one detainee who was subject to attempted rape during transfer (see Case Study 2 below).
Many detainees were injured during their arrest or suffer from chronic illnesses for which little or no medical attention has been provided (See Case Study 3). Addameer was informed by one detainee who has a leg injury that when he went to the clinic he was given some tablets. After returning to his tent he was about to take the tablet but when he checked the expiry date he discovered that the medicine was two years over its expiry date. He gave the medicine to the Red Cross who informed the administration of the military camp. Following this incident the clinic is now giving detainees medicine in a white box with no expiry dates marked.
The food is not fit for human consumption and is provided in very small quantities. Until 13 May, the detainees were not provided with any hot meals or beverages. Instead, the detainees were given frozen schnitzels, which they had to place in the sun to defrost. They were provided with powdered coffee and tea bags and told to take hot water from the bathroom in order to make drinks. Each 10 prisoners were provided 1-2 cucumbers and a couple of pieces of fruit. A small tub of yoghurt was also given to each 10 prisoners. Detainees who suffer from chronic diseases such as diabetes and blood pressure problems were not given any special food, so other detainees gave them their food portions in order to ensure an adequate diet for these sick detainees. Following the 13 May, detainees were provided with hot meals but the quantity and quality of this food is unknown.
The detainees are not provided with clean clothes or adequate cleaning supplies. The clothes of many prisoners remain bloodied from injuries sustained during their arrest. Each section (around 120 detainees) is provided with one bar of soap each day. On Friday and Saturday they are not provided with any soap. Each section has only three showers for the 120 detainees and hot water is not always available.
The detainees are completely isolated from the outside world. They have absolutely no access to books, TV, radio or newspapers and family visits are completely forbidden. The “Israeli” military has refused to allow the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to enter books, clothes and other personal items. There is no electricity available for the detainees and movement is forbidden within a section following nightfall.
Lawyers attempting to represent the
detainees are faced with severe restrictions on their movement and access to
their clients. Detainees are brought to meet their lawyers with their hands
tied and sometimes their eyes blindfolded. They face trial in a military court,
which is presided over by a military judge and is often held in the middle of
the night. These trials take place on the basis of “secret evidence” which
neither the detainee or their lawyer has access to. The detainees often face
this court with no legal representation because lawyers were not permitted into
the court or informed of the trial. Some lawyers have been forced to wait
outside the military camp for hours and were allowed in only when the trial has
been completed. Because of these illegal restrictions on lawyers, and due to
the fact that lawyers have been exposed to invasive body searches before
entering the court, lawyers from Palestinian human rights organizations and the
Palestinian Bar Association are discussing steps including the option of
boycotting “Israeli” military courts until they are allowed free access to
their clients in accordance with international law.
Detainees are given administrative detention (a 3-6 month period of detention without charge or fair trial) on the basis of a so-called “secret file” presented to the military judge by the “Israeli” General Intelligence Service (Shin Bet). Detainees are kept in limbo for weeks following their interrogation while they wait for a military court to pass a sentence on them. According to “Israeli” law, administrative detainees are supposed to have access to books, radio, clothes, weekly family visits and other rights which are not provided to them by the Ofer military administration.
On 12 April, the “Israeli” government re-opened Ketziot, a notorious prison camp in the Negev desert. This prison was used during the first Intifada and was renowned for its inhuman conditions. Fifty-six prisoners from Megiddo Prison were transferred to Ketziot following its re-opening. In addition, hundreds of detainees from “Israeli” detention camps who have received administrative detention orders have also been transferred there in recent weeks. Currently around 500 detainees are incarcerated in Ketziot of which 300 have been given administrative detention orders. It should be noted that in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which forbids transfer of prisoners outside occupied territories, Ketziot is located outside the West Bank. Some of the severe violations that detainees in Ketziot face are as follows:
Prisoners are kept in old tents and are forced to sleep on thin sponge-mattresses only a few centimeters thick.
For the first two weeks following the opening of Ketziot, there was no hot food or kitchen available for detainees and, as in Ofer, they were provided with frozen food of poor quality and small quantity. Detainees in Ketziot are provided with one bar of soap each week for 20 detainees. There is no other cleaning equipment available to the detainees.
Several detainees in Ketziot have serious medical conditions and are not provided with adequate medical services or medications. Detainees report that when they go to the clinic they are not given medicines and doctors are sometimes several days late in visiting patients. One detainee, B., told Addameer that he fell unconscious and it took four hours before he received medical attention.
As with all “Israeli” detention camps and
prisons, detainees are not permitted family visits.
Addameer stresses that the current situation facing detainees and their lawyers is the most grave witnessed since the beginning of the Intifada. These detainees are being held as hostages to the political process in the most degrading and inhuman conditions. “Israeli” practices towards Palestinian detainees violate a myriad of international human rights norms and resolutions. Addameer calls upon all international organizations and concerned individuals to demand the unconditional and immediate release of all Palestinian political detainees. Addameer also calls on the ICRC to ensure that the “Israeli” government allows it to fulfill its mandate in protecting detainees.
Case
Study 1: Detainee G., Sworn Affidavit
given to Addameer lawyer on 12 May, 2002 at Ofer Detention Camp
I was arrested from my house on 4 April, 2002 at approximately 11am. The soldiers acted well and took me to the Luluat Al Manara Buiding in Ramallah. There, they took me to the ground floor and kept me there until 8:30pm. The whole time I was alone with the soldiers. Two soldiers then came and untied my hands and wanted to give me food and cigarettes.
At around 12pm, they tied my hands and blindfolded me. I heard one of the soldiers ask, “What’s his status?” and the answer, “There is blood on his hands.” One of them beat me on my left leg with a club. I felt as though my leg had broken and I started screaming and he began to beat me heavily with the club. After that the soldier left.
After approximately 10 minutes, they began to hit me again. They repeated this around seven or eight times. Then one soldier arrived and began to strangle me with an old sheet while the other soldiers kicked me all over my body especially in the chest and the kidney area. They did this 4 or 5 times, and one time I passed out. When they hit me on the head I gained consciousness again.
At one point another soldier came, he seemed new, and he asked the soldiers why they were beating me. They replied “He has blood on his hands.” This soldier began to beat me hysterically and loaded a gun that he was carrying and pointed it at my head. One of the soldiers yelled, “Don’t do it” and dragged him away with force. Then the soldier hit me on the head with the gun. He repeated this sequence several times.
I was kept in this situation until approximately 8:15pm. I heard one of the soldiers say they had found many people in another building and a large number of soldiers left and a small number remained with me.
I heard one of them say, “How about we kill him?” Another soldier replied, “It’s better if we smash his skull and we should make sure that the nurse is here.”
At this moment a bus arrived and soldiers
took me to the bus before they could kill me. The soldiers had to carry me so
that I could get into the bus. The bus took me to Ofer Detention Camp next to
Beitunia. This is what happened to me when I was arrested.
A. had been sentenced to 9 months imprisonment and was incarcerated in Nafha prison. On 28 April he was brought to Ofer Military Camp because he had an appeal court in the nearby Beit El settlement. He arrived at 10pm and an officer and policeman took him behind a caravan. The police officer was wearing gloves and he asked me to take off my pants. He was shouting, “I will do you”. I refused to let him take off my pants. So the officer told me to take off my pants and T-shirt. He tied my hands with handcuffs behind my back and asked the police man to go. He put Vaseline on the gloves and he tried to take off my pants. I started to shout. He started to beat and hit me severely. I fell on the ground. Another officer came and the officer who tried to rape me claimed that I attacked him. I told the other officer what happened. The officer asked me not to talk about what happened. My hand was broken from the beatings and the kicking and I received a medical report. There are bruises on my body and back. I told the Red Cross who made a report. The next day the deputy head of Ofer Military Camp came and told me there was an investigation and a committee to investigate the case.
I was arrested on 31 March on Sunday from Ramallah near the Cairo Amman Bank at 11am. As I came down from the Taboun building I was wounded by “Israeli” snipers who were nearby. I was hit in the kidney area on the left side of my body with a 250-bullet. For 2 to 3 hours I was lying on the ground bleeding. Some of the people with me called an ambulance but it couldn’t reach me because the whole place was filled with tanks. The people with me carried me to a nearby house. An hour later, “Israeli” soldiers came into the house to search it. They took me in an armored personnel carrier (APC) and they severely beat the owners of the house. They even beat the women, girls and children.
After they put me in the APC I was transferred to Beit El Settlement from there they transferred me to Hadassah Hospital in an ambulance. I’m not sure what time it was. They put me in an emergency section with “Israelis” who were injured in a suicide bombing. I was still in my police uniform. In the hospital I was attacked by settlers who beat me. It took one hour for the hospital security to come and rescue me from them. I lost consciousness and I think I stayed in coma for around 48 hours.
When I gained consciousness I found my hands and legs had been cuffed. In the hospital I stayed in this situation for four days with my hands and legs cuffed to the bed. After that I was transferred to Ofer Military Detention Camp and was kept for two days still cuffed and my eyes blindfolded. They did not give me any food or drink in this time.
After that they moved me to a military hangar that was used to store vehicles. My injury was still bleeding and it took four days before a doctor came to change the bandages. The conditions inside the hangar were unsanitary so they moved me outside and the doctor started changing the bandages without cleaning or examining the injury. Later, my wound opened and it took them ten days before they replaced the stitches. All that time they gave me no medicine except for painkillers. No special food was provided for me, and I received no milk or hot meals. I spent the time sleeping on a wooden board without a mattress and only two blankets. At that time the weather was raining and very cold and this made my wound hurt severely. At Ofer I was kept 27 days in the same clothes that I had been brought in from the hospital. I wasn’t allowed to shower or clean my wound and my clothes were soaked with blood. After 19 days in Ofer I was told that I would be released. They called me for interrogation and I was interrogated for 2 days. During the interrogation they beat me on my wound, which caused severe pain and opened the wound again. They stitched it again. During interrogation they beat me all the time on my wound and tried to get information from me concerning two soldiers who were killed in Ramallah at the beginning of the Intifada even though I was serving in Jericho at that time. Then they tried to pressure me while beating me on my injury to work for them and become a collaborator. After 48 hours interrogation they brought me back to the hangar. Eight days after the interrogation they released me. They brought me to the Ram area at 12 noon. I got to Qalandya checkpoint where they had informed the soldiers that I was coming. They kept me at the checkpoint until 2am the next morning while my physical condition was very bad. Finally I arrived at Ramallah and was treated in Ramallah hospital.
On 29 August 2002, two Palestinian detainees were severely beaten by 5 “Israeli” soldiers at the military occupation court of Beit El, located in Beit El settlement North of Ramallah. The two detainees attacked were Omar Abu Sneineh (21), arrested on June 26 during the last military invasion of Hebron, and Ussama Salahat, from the Bethlehem area.
Both detainees have been held in detention since their arrest waiting to be
charged; Abu Sneineh was being held at Asqalan prison (renown for its brutal
interrogation center) and Salahat was being held at the Ofer military detention
camp.
On the day of their military court hearing, the detainees had their hands and legs bound and were escorted by 5 “Israeli” soldiers to Beit El. When detainee Abu Sneineh tried to get closer to the fence separating detainees from their families, who have been prevented from seeing their relatives since their arrests [1], a soldier struck him with the butt of his rifle in the neck, causing him to fall to the ground. The second detainee was then pushed to the ground while the soldiers began pummeling both chained prisoners to the extent that one of the soldier’s guns was broken. All this took place in full view of the detainees’ families, lawyers and court officials.
After more than half an hour, a military ambulance arrived on the scene to attend to the two shackled detainees who had been left to bleed on the ground. Abu Sneineh was taken to Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem by a civil ambulance, while Salahat was sent back to Ofer detention camp, whose clinic is infamous for offering only aspirin for all medical problems.
Witnesses to the beating also reported seeing one of the soldiers who had participated in the beating, and had done so in the most enthusiastic manner, later carried out by another ambulance following a meeting between the military judge and the officer responsible for transferring detainees. Addameer has probable reason to suspect that the soldiers’ evacuation by ambulance was nothing less than sheer paegentry designed to enable the use of an “Israeli” self-defense plea, thus eliminating all chances for any prosecution of the guilty parties.
Fearing for the lives of their clients, lawyers of Palestinian detainees with court hearings in Beit El refused to participate in any military court hearings for the rest of the day. The lawyers argued that the court magistrates are responsible for the security of the detainees and that the court is negelgent and/ or complicitous in security breaches against their clients. The court, however, shrugged off this responsibility.
A complaint was immediately lodged in the names of Omar Abu Sneineh and Ussama Salahat with the Military Police in Jerusalem. Soon after the filing of the complaint, however, an additional complaint was lodged against the two detainees introduced by the “in-patient” soldier.
Addameer’s experience in similar cases of abuse and maltreatment of detainees during their transfer, including the well-known case of the Bus 300 affair where two Palestinian detainees were killed in custody, justifies grave concerns for the well-being of Palestinian detainees and the complicity of the “Israeli” legal system in covering up these abuses.
We call upon all people of conscience to raise awareness within their communities concerning the grave conditions and the threats to personal security of Palestinian detainees and the negligence and complicity of the “Israeli” occupation’s military system.
This press release is based on sworn affidavits.
[1] family visits to Palestinian detainees
have been prevented since September 2000.
Appearances before military courts are the only way in which families
may see from afar their detained relatives.
M, a 16 year old Palestinian girl, was arrested on her way to school on 13 June 2002 at 8 am and taken by “Israeli” soldier to the military base at Ein Etzion. She was made to wait outside in the sun, with her hands cuffed, without water or food until 2pm. She was then brought to the Etzion police station and interrogated by a single policeman.
At 2:30 pm, she was offered food but refused to eat it, being too frightened to eat. She was then forced to sign a statement saying that she had refused to eat. At that point, she was prepared to sign anything in order to be released.
Under these constraints and fears, aware of what treatment the soldier can inflict upon arrested Palestinian, she signed a document written in Hebrew containing confessions used by the prosecutor in her case.
The next day, M was moved to Al’Ramla prison were all Palestinian women and girls (47 including, 2 minors) are detained with “Israeli” criminal prisoners and only separated from them by a fence.
From the first day of her arrest, her lawyer, provided by Addameer, attempted several times to visit her at the detention center. The first time, after having to go through an extensive body search, the authorities told the lawyer that it was too late for visits. Two days later, he tried again and after waiting for many hours, was told that she was at court. However, due to the absence of the legal counsel, the hearing was postponed for 4 days.
On 20 June, M was brought before a judge once more. Her detention was extended for an additional 5 days and she was to be brought before the court again on 25 June. Her lawyer was able to visit her during these 5 days
On the 25 June, the police decided not to take her to her court hearing, and she remained in her cell.
The lawyer reacted immediately against this legal failure and the police agreed by phone to release her. Everything had been arranged with the ICRC for her release as the lawyer was told she would be released around midnight. The entire West Bank at that time was under strict curfew and the police wanted to drop her at a checkpoint. The arrangements made with the ICRC was that they would wait for her at the checkpoint, find her a safe place to spend the night and bring her home the next day. All this was cancelled when the police called again saying they would release her only the next morning for security reason.
But the next morning, instead of releasing her, she was brought to a judge who renewed her detention yet again. Between 25 – 26 June, M was being detained illegally. In 2 hearings, without informing the lawyer in advance, they read the list of charges against her and decided on her detention until the end of the trial.
On the 25 June, M’s father was at the court. He hadn’t seen his daughter since her arrest. Upon the lawyer’s insistence, he was only allowed to shake her hand without saying a word to her.
Another hearing took place on August 11 in the presence of an American lawyers delegation. Their presence made it possible for the mother to hug her crying daughter for a few seconds.
On 22 September, M was again brought before the court without her lawyer being informed. The hearing was again cancelled due to the lack of legal counsel
On the 13 October, Addameer received a phone call from Ofer’s military court saying that M was there and that they were waiting for the lawyer. Not informed in advance, the lawyer was busy in another court and impossible to reach. However they wrote in the protocol of the court that he was informed of the hearing in advance. The lawyer submitted an official complaint against this.
The military prosecutor requested over 3 years
of imprisonment in regards to M’s case.
The next hearing is scheduled to take place on 6 November. Great pressure is being placed on the lawyer
to shorten the period of his plea, disregarding the life of this young
girl. Her charges are based on illegal
confessions, and the requested sentencing does not take into consideration her
status as a child, in contravention of the Convention of the Rights of the
Child.
Conditions of detention
As is the case for all Palestinian minors in “Israeli” jails, M is detained together with adults. She is usually placed in a cell with another detained minor but this often changes. The wardens can come at any time, often in the middle of the night, and take detainees to other cells. She is only allowed outside the cell for half an hour a day, in a bird-cage-like wired yard of around 50 meters square.
She is denied any access to education, and is not offered any items of entertainment.
In addition to the violation of the International rights of the child inflicted upon all Palestinian minors, she is facing the same harsh detention conditions as other Palestinian women: no family visits, no contact with the outside world except expired newspapers, no adequate health care, current humiliations and ill-treatments, etc.
To address the issue of the abuse of their basic human rights, female detainees began a hunger strike in August for 15 days, drinking only lightly sugared water throughout this period. The response of the prison authorities was harsh, with M being placed in solitary confinement for a period of 3 days.
The American delegation of lawyers who were present in one of her hearings, were extremely shocked by M’s conditions of detention and have begun a campaign for her release.
The Imprisoned Palestinian National Movement in the “Israeli” Occupation Prisons calls upon all Arab and Palestinian prisoners to boycott “Israeli” courts refusing to recognize their legitimacy.
They also call upon all concerned organizations and citizens to implement actions to support them.
All the prisoners representative committees from all prisons and detention centers form the Imprisoned Palestinian National Movement in the “Israeli” Occupation Prisons. These