Israel announced that it will freeze the program of family visits to prisons.
according to the International Committee of the Red Cross, Israel notified the Committee of halting the visits program for security reasons.
This decision comes in the context of Israel’s escalations against the prisoners, who are detained under difficult conditions.
According to the findings of Al Mezan’s investigation this includes collective punishment and maltreatment of prisoners.
The new decision followed a series of procedures regarding the family visits to prisons, which included: Allowing fixed categories of family members to visit prisoners, namely parents, grandparents, and sons and daughters who are under 18-years-old.
Canceling scheduled visits and conducting visits irregularly without mentioning any reasons.
Preventing face-to-face visits by putting double fences between them under continuous presence of guards.
Shortening the duration of visits which is less than thirty minutes.
This adds to suffering of the families of the prisoners who go through strict conditions on their way to visits.
They have to leave there homes at dawn and wait for long hours at checkpoint.
The majority of about 7,000 prisoners are kept into prisons in Israel in a breach to Article 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention which prohibit the detention of protected persons in the territory of the occupying power.
These procedures also violate the internationally accepted standards of detention, especially Article 37 in the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, and principle 19 in the Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment, of 9 December 1988.
Al Mezan Center for Human Rights calls upon the international community and human rights organizations, especially the ICRC, to intervene ensure the release of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons.
They are also requested to exert more pressure on Israel to stop its aggression against Palestinian prisoners and the most recent decision of banning family visits.
The Center emphasizes that the Israeli practices contradict the international law and warns from dangerous consequences in the prisoners issue had they continued.
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