On Sunday 15 August 2004, Palestinian prisoners start a hunger strike in protest to ill, humiliating treatment they suffer in Israeli prisons.
Al Mezan Center for Human Rights announces its support for the prisoners' demands, which come in coherence with the International Law.
The Center, further, demands that Israel upholds IHL in relation to the minimum standards of detention and imprisonment and stop the discrimination it employs against Palestinian prisoners.
During its follow-up of the cases of Palestinian prisoners, Al Mezan became aware of the fact that the Israeli Prison Agency (IPA) utilized, and still, indiscriminate punishment of prisoners and expose them to conditions that make life so difficult.
Some of these conditions are: Isolating prisoners from the world through prevention, and/or imposing severe restrictions of family visitation.
This includes humiliating searches and delays of families at checkpoints.
Providing ill visitation facilities; including isolating families from prisoners during visitation with closed viper glass barriers.
Humiliating treatment of prisoners, through strip search when others are around, frequent searches of cells at night and confiscation of personal property and books.
Providing law quality and quantity of food.
Delaying medical treatment and not availing of medication to sick prisoners in general, and especially reference to hospitals.
Isolating individual prisoners in cells for punishment for long periods, and for trivial causes, such as speaking loudly.
Frequent use of teargas in cells indiscriminately, and when it is not necessary.
Imposing restrictions on lawyers' visitation of prisoner, and prevention from privacy during such visits.
Over-crowdedness of cells and prison rooms.
Detention of children with adults and of political prisoners with Israeli criminal prisoners, which resulted in high risk on their life due to assaults by criminal prisoners.
Al Mezan Center for Human Rights announces its unconditioned support and solidarity with Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli prisons.
The Center calls upon the International Community to immediately intervene and pressure Israel to uphold its obligations in regard to the minimum standards for the treatment of prisoners under International Law.
END