Hamdouna: Prisoners Subjected to Unprecedented Abuses in Israeli Prisons

The Prisoners Studies Centre has expressed concerns that the administration of Israeli prisoners commits “unprecedented” abuses against Palestinian prisoners and their possessions, and that such abuses are often conducted under the pretext of security.

The centre’s director, Mr Raafat Hamouda, disclosed in a press release that a special squad from the administration of the Nafha desert prison conducted, a few days ago, a “thorough and unprecedented” search of a cell occupied by eight detainees on the pretext that a cell phone was smuggled inside it. The Israeli squad then chained the prisoners and transferred them, without their possessions, to a canteen room that had been emptied for them.

Hamdouna added that the prison’s administration took off the frame of the iron door and examined the floor and the walls, and the detainees’ beds and possessions for three and that the empty cell is still being subjected to ongoing searches, by special units from outside the prison, till this moment.

Prisoner Tawfik Naem pointed out that prisoner Yahia Al Senwar, who is considered by Israeli prisons’ administration to be one of the most dangerous prisoners, was among the 8 prisoners in the cell, along with Abass El Sayed, Ali Al Amoudi, Oweis Hamada, and Ibrahim Al Masry. The rest of the prisoners were transferred to Hadarim Prison.