PPS: Palestinian prisoner faces medical neglect in solitary confinement

The Israeli Prisons Service (IPS) has continued to hold an injured Palestinian prisoner Mahmoud Amid Nassar in solitary confinement for nearly two months without providing him with proper medical treatment, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society (PPS) reported yesterday.

A PPS lawyer who visited Nassar in his confinement cell reported that the prisoner had been assaulted four times by IPS officials while being held in solitary, adding that Nassar was also assaulted by IPS officials before being transferred to solitary confinement on 1 February.

According to the lawyer, Nassar still suffers from pains in his chest, knees and right hand and has yet to be given proper medical treatment for his injuries.

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The lawyer also said that Nassar was being held in a cell measuring 2 by 3.5 square metres with a closed window and a toilet which was in poor condition. IPS has also banned visits and all forms of communication between Nassar and his family.

An IPS spokesperson was not immediately available for comment.

Hundreds of sick and injured Palestinians are being held in Israeli prisons, with rights groups widely condemning Israel for its medical negligence of Palestinian detainees, which prisoners’ rights group Addameer has called a “deliberate policy of neglect”.