THREE PALESTINIAN PRISONERS, DUE TO BE RELEASED, GIVEN SIX MONTH ADMINISTRATIVE DETENTION ORDERS MEGIDDO PRISON CONDITIONS WORSEN
July 17, 1997
Israel’s illegal use of administrative detention reached new heights this past month, as three Palestinian prisoners who had finished their prison sentences were issued 6 month administrative detention orders on their release dates. In the most egregious case, instead of being released after completing a 12-year prison sentence, Abdel Nasser Jamous from Shweikeh, Tulkarem was transferred into administrative detention for six months. Jamous, who had served his sentence in the isolated prison of Nafha located in the Negev desert, received the new administrative detention order on the day of his release. Two other Palestinian prisoners received the same: Mohammed Mihdawi from Tulkarem and Abdel Khader Idris from Hebron, who finished a 2 1/2 year prison sentence.
In addition, conditions in Megiddo prison continue to worsen. Yesterday, Palestinian administrative detainees and prisoners at Megiddo prison informed an attorney for LAW that the mattresses in the prison are infested with bedbugs. The situation has deteriorated to a degree that the prisoners are unable to sleep on their mattresses at night. In addition, the tents have become overcrowded, with 22 men placed in tents meant to hold 18. The detainees are also underfed, receiving meat once every twelve days and poor quality meat by-products the rest of the time. The detainees receive approximately 40 grams of fruits and vegetables a day. The detainees also face humiliating and dangerous prison counts, whereby during the prison counts armed soldiers stand over the detainees as they sit on the cots, head down. If a detainee moves in the wrong way, prison regulations state that the soldiers can open fire.
In Megiddo prison, there are approximately 570 Palestinian prisoners and detainees. One hundred and seventeen prisoners are held in cells and the remaining 453 in tents. Three hundred of the Palestinians are detainees awaiting trial and 115 Palestinian administrative detainees who will never be tried.
LAW calls on Israel to fulfill its commitment under section 16 and Annex VII of the Oslo 2 agreement to release the Palestinian administrative detainees and prisoners. Until they are released, LAW calls on the Israeli government to provide the prisoners with humanitarian conditions and proper food.
LAW - The Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment is a non-governmental organization, dedicated to preserving human rights through legal advocacy. LAW is also an affiliate member of the Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights.