Monday, February 6, 2012

Israeli authorities 'punish Adnan solidarity strikers'

(REUTERS/File)

RAMALLAH (Ma’an) -- The Ministry of Prisoners' Affairs said Monday that Israeli authorities have put eight detainees in solitary confinement after they joined the hunger strike of detained Islamic Jihad leader Khader Adnan.

Prisoners minister Issa Qaraqe said nearly 700 detainees in Ofer prison began an open hunger strike on Monday in support of Adnan, who has been hospitalized after he refused food for 51 days.

Raed Al-Sayegh, Muhtaseb Al-Assa, Ayman Al-Zaaqiq, Hassan Lafi, Mohammad Shahin, Ahmad Al-Ewiwi, Nael Halabi and Firas Al-Barghouthi have been transferred to isolation cells in Israel's Ofer jail, a ministry report said.

Meanwhile, the prisoners society in Hebron said Israeli authorities canceled a family visit scheduled for Tuesday for relatives of prisoners in Shata jail from the southern West Bank city.

Society head Amjad Najjar said the decision was intended to sanction the detainees, who on Monday returned their meals to support Adnan's hunger strike.

Separately, Naajjar said female relatives of detainees at Nafha and Ramon prisons were treated in a humiliating manner at the Meitar checkpoint in the southern West Bank as they traveled to a prison visit.

"The families were waiting at the checkpoint since 6 a.m., where they were later subject to intensive examinations and strip-searches."

He appealed to the International Committee of the Red Cross to intervene to halt collective punishment and put pressure on Israel to improve the treatment of the detainees.

Adnan, who was detained from his Jenin-district home on Dec. 17, is protesting his treatment by Israeli prison authorities and the practice of detention without charge.

Maan News Agency

No comments:

Post a Comment