[Ppnews] Gaza prisoners held in harsh and humiliating conditions

[Political Prisoner News]

Gaza prisoners held in harsh and humiliating conditions

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10253.shtml
Press release, Israeli human rights organizations, 28 January 2009

This morning seven Israeli human rights organizations appealed to the 
Military Judge Advocate General, Brigadier General Avichai 
Mandelblit, and to Attorney General Meni Mazuz concerning the 
appalling conditions in which Palestinians arrested during the 
fighting in Gaza were held, and the humiliating and inhuman treatment 
to which they were subjected from the time of their arrest until 
their transfer to the custody of the Israel Prison Service.

The complaint, written by Attorneys Bana Shoughry-Badarne, from the 
Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, Lila Margalit, from the 
Association for Civil Rights in Israel and Abeer Jubran-Dakuar, from 
Hamoked: Center for the Defence of the Individual, was submitted on 
behalf of those organizations and on behalf of Physicians for Human 
Rights - Israel, B'Tselem, Yesh Din and Adalah. It is based on 
statements collected from detainees by lawyers from the Public 
Committee Against Torture in Israel, as well as on testimony given to 
Hamoked: the Center for the Defense of the Individual.

The evidence described in the letter provides a shocking portrayal of 
the harsh, inhuman and degrading conditions in which Palestinian 
prisoners were held during the initial days of their incarceration. 
The reports indicate, among other things, that many detainees -- 
minors as well as adults -- were held for many hours -- sometimes for 
days -- in pits dug in the ground, exposed to bitter cold and harsh 
weather, handcuffed and blindfolded. These pits lacked basic sanitary 
facilities which would have allowed the detainees appropriate toilet 
facilities, while food and shelter, when provided, were limited, and 
the detainees went hungry. More seriously, some of the detainees were 
held near tanks and in combat areas, in gross violation of 
international humanitarian law which prohibits holding prisoners and 
captives in areas exposed to danger.

Inappropriate treatment of the detainees continued after they were 
removed from the pits in which they had been held. For example, some 
were held overnight in a truck, handcuffed, with one blanket for 
every two people; some were held for a long time in the rain; there 
was a lack of blankets, food and water; and there were also incidents 
involving extreme violence and humiliation by soldiers and 
interrogators, regarding which complaints will be submitted 
separately. Detainees continued to be held in humiliating conditions 
even after being transferred to an [Israeli army] prison facility 
(located, apparently, at the Sdeh Tayman base) where, for example, 
they were not provided with toilets or showers.

In view of these harsh accounts, the organizations demand an 
independent, comprehensive investigation to insure that such 
treatment of detainees is not repeated. The organizations also 
request that a number of additional steps be taken to preserve these 
detainees' rights and insure appropriate conditions of incarceration 
wherever the army may hold prisoners in the future.

According to Attorney Bana Shoughry-Badarne, Director of the Legal 
Department of the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI): 
"Israel's indifference to its moral and legal obligations to 
detainees is particularly objectionable in view of the fact that 
official spokesmen have repeatedly declared that the [Israeli army] 
prepared at length for the Gaza operation. It seems that, during 
these lengthy preparations, the basic rights of the detainees and 
captives were completely forgotten, rights that must be protected 
regardless of the detainees' legal status and whether or not their 
incarceration is justified."



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