On Wednesday, 5 November 2008, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights lawyer visited Dr.
Abdel Aziz Dweik, Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), at the Ramleh Prison Hospital.
After the visit, the lawyer reported that Dr.
Dweik's health condition was generally stable.
However, he stated that Dr.
Dweik suffered from kidney stone and would undergo a surgery to remove it; however, the surgery has not been scheduled yet.
It is noteworthy that the IOF arbitrarily arrested Dr.
Dweik on 5 November 2006.
He has been in prison for 30 months.
Dozens of other elected PLC members, municipal councils' members and ministers were also arbitrarily arrested by the IOF.
There are nearly 41 Palestinian elected legislators in Israeli custody currently.
In a statement to Al Mezan's lawyer, Dr.
Dweik said that he was detained in one cell with PLC member Ahmad Sa'dat, the Secretary General of the PFLP, and West Bank Fatah leader and PLC member Marwan al-Barghuthi.
Dr.
Dweik was transferred to Ramleh Prison after his health condition deteriorated.
Al Mezan Center condemns the arbitrary detention of democratically elected political leaders and representatives of the Palestinian people.
Such a practice by the IOF aims to paralyze the Palestinian political life and undermine the Palestinian National Authority's constitutional institutions, especially the PLC.
The Center holds Israel responsible for the health and wellbeing of the Speaker of the PLC and other PLC members whom Israel holds illegally.
It calls the international community to take serious actions towards ensuring the release of Dr.
Dweik as well as other PLC members, political leaders and all Palestinian political prisoners.
It calls the international community to assume its legal and ethical obligations vis-à-vis Israeli's systematic breaches of the international law and standards of human rights, and provide international protection to the Palestinian people.
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