Sunday, 17 April 2022

Palestinian Prisoner's Day 2022

 

Today marks Palestinian Prisoners Day, a day that also serves to express solidarity with the thousands of Palestinian political prisoners held in Israeli jails. It is also used as a means to illustrate the Israeli army's excessive and often lethal use of force against peaceful and unarmed demonstrators throughout the West Bank and Gaza, 
A day for Palestinian people and supporters of justice and liberation for Palestine worldwide to express  their support to Palestinian political prisoners of freedom.Commemorated since 1974, when , Mahmoud Hizazi  was freed in a prisoner exchange with the Palestinian resistance, Palestinian Prisoner Day was founded to remind the world of the thousands of Palestinian political prisoners imprisoned in Israeli  occupied  prisons or detention centers without charge or trial for extensive periods of time. It is a day to demand their freedom.
In Palestine, political imprisonment is a central feature of Israeli Apartheid with over 20% of Palestinians facing imprisonment in their lifetime.Since Israeli began its military occupation of the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip in 1967, more than 800,000 Palestinians have been abducted and imprisoned by Israel.  This figure represents 20% of the total Palestinian population and 40% of the Palestinian male population. 
 In 2010, Israel issued Military Order 1651 which imposes a 10-year sentence on anyone who attempts to influence public opinion in the West Bank in a manner which they deem to harm public order or publishes words of praise for a hostile organization which it defines as incitement
 For years, the Israeli army has used such broad military orders to intimidate and arrest Palestinian human rights activists who engage in non-violent protests. This essentially allows Israel to criminalise resistanncetance to an occupation that is illegal under international law.
A core part of what sustains the Israeli occupation is a military judicial system characterised by violations of international law. This dual legal system that Palestinians face is reminiscent of apartheid South Africa.
Currently, there are 4,450 Palestinians incarcerated by Israel, including 160 children under the age of 18, and 32 female prisoners, including one female minor. The vast majority of Palestinian prisoners are imprisoned in Israeli prisons inside the Green Line, amounting to acts of forcible transfer from the occupied territory, in violation of Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention (1949).
Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons continue to face systematic ill-treatment and torture. Currently, more than 600 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons suffer from a wide range of illnesses and lack of access to proper medical care, 200 of them have been diagnosed with chronic diseases, including 22 who have been diagnosed with cancer.
The most serious case is that of Naser Abu Hamid, who is in a critical condition and suffering from lung cancer.
Additionally, Israel is holding 530 Palestinian under administrative detention, a procedure whereby Israel incarcerates Palestinians without trial based on ‘secret information, in violation of the right to due process and a fair procedure under Articles 9 and 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and a war crime under Article 8 (2)(a)(vi) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
Since January 2022, Israel has arrested more than 2,140 Palestinians according to a joint statement issued by prisoners’ organizations. These arrests have particularly intensified since March and the start of Ramadan, with sweeping raids and arrests taking place in Jenin and Jerusalem.
On Friday morning April 15th, the Israeli Occupying Forces (IOF) raided the Al-Aqsa mosque and conducted mass arrests of more than 450 Palestinians from the Al-Aqsa compound after having attacked worshippers prior to the dawn prayer.
This year alone, Israel has issued approximately 400 administrative detention orders against Palestinians, most of which are renewals of previous detention orders. Administrative detainees are prohibited from their right to a fair trial, including the reasons for their arrest. The detention periods are usually issued for six months periods subject to renewal and Israel’s military courts may extend their detention indefinitely on this basis.
On 1 January 2022, around 500 Palestinian administrative detainees launched a campaign to boycott Israel’s military courts in protest against their arbitrary arrests by Israel’s apartheid regime.
This collective disobedience intends to highlight the inhuman and degrading punishment of Palestinians based on ‘secret information.
Palestinian Prisoner Day was founded to remind the world of the thousands of Palestinian political prisoners imprisoned in Israeli prisons or detention centers without charge or trial for extensive periods of time.who continue to be subject to wide-ranging violations of their rights and dignity.. The number of Palestinian detainess increases as Israeli occupying forces continue to wage campaigns of arbitrary arrests and detentions against thousands of Palestinians.
Investigations have revealed that prisoners are regularly subject to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, including poor detention conditions, in violation of Israel's obligations under international human rights and humanitarian law. 
Detention facilities and prisons in Israel have long been criticized  for overcrowding, unsanitary conditions, and inadequate access to healthcare. The majority of Palestinians in Israeli custody are defined as “security” prisoners by the Israeli Prison Service (IPS), which entails special restrictions that regular criminal prisoners do not face, such as the denial of phone calls.
Since the beginning of the year, apartheid Israel’s occupation forces have inflicted a campaign of collective punishment via violent mass arrest on the city of Jenin in the north of the illegally occupied West Bank. More than 200 of the city's residents have been arrested, with 100 arrests taking place in March alone. According to the Palestinian Prisoners Club there are approximately 500 Palestinian political prisoners from Jenin in Israeli jails, including three women and around 10 children. 
On March 2022, the UN Human Rights Committee called on Israel to “immediately put an end to the widespread practice of arbitrary arrests and detention, including administrative detention, of Palestinians, in particular children.
It should ensure that Palestinian detainees, including those held in administrative detention, are provided with all legal and procedural safeguards, including the rights to be informed of the reason for their arrest and detention, to access legal counsel, and be brought promptly before a judge, and to notify a person of the choice of their detention, in line with article 9 of the Covenant”.
Every day, Palestinian prisoners are on the front lines of struggle, facing torturous interrogation , nighttime raids, solitary confinement, and relentless attacks on their rights at the hands of Israeli occupation forces.
In a period when violence and arrests against Palestinians are being escalated, we should support the international communities efforts to ensure the immediate and effective measures to ensure that Israel releases all unlawfully detained  Palestinian political prisoners from the Israeli jails, and ensures that conditions of arrest are consistent with international human rights and humanitarian law.
As the rights of 4.500 Palestinian prisoners are violated, and the Israeli occupation army continues to arrest Palestinian children and teenagers and imprison them in barbaric conditions. We should especially urge for the immediate liberation of around 160 child prisoners, as well as of women, sick and disabled prisoners.

 Further information and resources are available at:
  • Addameer (Prisoner Support & Human Rights Association)
  • Samidoun (Palestinian Prisoners Solidarity Network)
     
     Prisoner of Palestine- Seize the Day  



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