PRESS RELEASE

Torture in PA Jails

 

Ramallah - Torture has become a routine in PA jails, here we will try to summarize some of the common means of torture used in Ramallah PSS detention center:

  1. "Shabeh": The process which each prisoner has to go through, where he is forced to stand against the wall for long hours in painful positions, some were forced to stand up to 5 days and more, others were forced to stand naked during the Shabeh process!!!

  2. Bad nutrition: Many of those whom have been released lately have lost many kilograms of their weight, when we know that they were not detained for more than two or three weeks, we conclude that the PA practically does not feed the prisoners.

  3. Bad sleep: Because of torture procedures, especially "Shabeh", all of prisoners could not have enough sleep.

  4. Some investigators use dirty sacks to cover the prisoner's head during investigation, which would make a problem for the prisoner's breathing process.

  5. In some cases investigators used to plunge the prisoner's head in a bucket containing cold water, then plunging his head in another one containing hot water.

  6. Many security men take place in beating the prisoner at the same time, where 6 or 7 security men beat him on different parts of his body simultaneously, especially on his face and stomach. Due to this some of the prisoners were sent to hospital because of internal bleeding.

We ask different human rights organizations to visit the prisoners detained in PA jails, especially the PSS detention centers in Ramallah, Jericho, and Gaza, to help them, and to pressure the PA in order that it stops the human tragedy in its jail. Finally we want to express our concern about the health conditions of our colleagues Ahmad Sa'eed, and Ghassan Al Addassi.

You could read the translation of this press release in Arabic, and a message send from the families to the Palestinian Legislative Council, at our site:

http://www.birzeit.edu/scouncil/ib

Saturday, 2 May, 1998

The Islamic Bloc in BZU