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Lawyer: Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prison face torture, filthy living conditions

September 23, 2016 at 10:54 am

Prison cells, 20 June 2016 [Derek Key/Flickr]

Palestinian prisoners held in Israel’s Etzion prison have been assaulted, tortured, while enduring squalid living conditions, according to testimonies collected by a lawyer from the Palestinian Committee for Prisoners’ Affairs.

In a statement released yesterday, Hassan Al-Sheikh said that Israeli forces have been assaulting Palestinian prisoners inside Etzion prison, while prisoners were also assaulted when Israeli forces initially detained them by breaking into their homes and beating them in front of their families.

Furthermore, while the prisoners were being transferred in a military vehicle to the prison, they were also assaulted and “humiliated” by Israeli forces.

Israeli forces continued to assault them when they arrived in prison, raid their cells, and routinely prohibit the prisoners from sleeping, drinking water and using the bathroom.

Palestinian prisoners told Al-Sheikh that they have also been denied access to the prison courtyard, were served “inedible” food which was either cold, rotten or which could not be identified.

Palestinian prisoners also reported they were being forced to bathe in large groups in the same shower without curtains for five minutes only, leading some prisoners to refuse taking showers altogether.

The lack of sufficient healthcare and sanitation has led to reports of the spread of skin illnesses.

The prison was infested with insects and bedsheets were filthy to the point that prisoners prefer sleeping without any covers.

They have also been prohibited from washing or changing their underwear.

Palestinian prisoners delivered a message through Al-Sheikh, calling upon all responsible authorities to intervene and put an end to Israel’s inhumane treatment of Palestinian political prisoners.

They also called upon the International Committee of the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders to visit them at Etzion prison and end their suffering.

In March, the Palestinian Committee for Prisoners’ Affairs reported that prisoners in Etzion were “aggressively” assaulted by Israeli prison authorities, who also raided the prisoners’ cells and forced them to leave before their rooms were subjected to “humiliating” inspections.

Earlier in March, 46 prisoners at Etzion ended hunger strikes after Israeli authorities agreed to let the prisoners receive clothes and other supplies from the prisoners’ committee.

The director of the committee’s Bethlehem office, Munqith Abu Atwan, told Ma’an at the time that Etzion detention center and its interrogation rooms were “hell” and “unfit for human life.”

The prisoners had been on strike to protest the quality and quantity of food served to them, in addition to filthy living spaces, inadequate medical treatment and lack of regular access to showers.