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Contents
Overview
Despite continued lobbying, the issue of child political prisoners continues to remain on the sidelines of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations on prisoner releases as part of the Road Map to Peace. An incontrovertible indication of this was the small of children released on August 6 as part of the scheduled release of 334 prisoners.
The list of prisoners included just 13 children, of whom 8 were already set for release in August, three in September, one in October and one in April 2004 (see list below). The proximity of their release dates is another firm indicator of Israel's lack of good faith in making concessions to the Palestinian side.
Child prisoners on Israel's release list:
" Muhammed Shakarna, arrested on 22/04/03 due for release 07/08/03
" Thamin Abu Diyak, arrested on 06/11/02, due for release 12/08/03
" Muhammed Hawshiya, arrested on 18/02/03 due for release 17/08/03
" Hakim Mu'ammar, arrested on 12/02/03 due for release 21/08/03
" Sultan Mahdi, arrested on 20/03/03 due for release 22/08/03
" Iyad Al-Alami, arrested on 23/03/03, due for release 23/08/03
" Bashir Asbeeh, arrested on 08/04/03, due for release 24/08/03
" Yusuf Zarriqi, arrested 20/08/02 due for release 24/08/03
" Zayed Riyahi, arrested on 17/03/03 due for release 02/09/03
" Mahmud Dudain, arrested on 25/10/02 due for release 03/09/03
" Anis Funnun, arrested on 22/04/03 due for release 07/09/03
" Umar Ziad, arrested on 24/10/02 due for release 02/10/03
" Majd Tubas, arrested on 07/04/02 due for release 08/03/04
In addition, Israel's arrest campaigns continue in much of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, to the extent that there were 320 arrests from the start of the cease-fire on June 29 to August 6, according to army records published by Israel's Haaretz newspaper.
For those children caught up in the Israeli detention system, circumstances remain little changed on previous months. Continuing high numbers of prisoners mean that over one hundred children are still being held in temporary detention centres with poor facilities and degrading routines. This month's report from Bet El confirms that up to nine children are still being penned into cells of 2.5X2.2 metres, allowed only 3 toilet breaks a day and sharing just four mattresses between them.
In addition, a Red Cross consignment delivered to these prisoners on July 2 was reportedly stolen and shared out between the Israeli soldiers on duty. This is a thoroughly reprehensible act, particularly regarding the sensory and physical deprivation that prisoners are already going through.
In the permanent prisons, Telmond prison continues to obstruct lawyer visits to child prisoners. In early July, a DCI lawyer waited more than two hours before seeing a prisoner. The children were then shackled hand and foot and made to walk the distance between Telmond and Hasharon prison over an unfinished road. The lawyer was only able to see 2 prisoners due to these time-wasting and degrading tactics.
Prison Life
Atzion Military Detention Centre On 4/7/2003, a DCI lawyer visited Atzion detention centre outside Hebron and remarked on the large numbers of children held in the centre as a result of continued arrest campaigns in the Hebron area. He estimated that there are currently around 20 children being held in the facility.
The lawyer said that the current conditions are almost unbearable, due to the increase in inmates. The cells are extremely small and there are not enough mattresses for all the inmates. In addition, prisoners receive a poor quality and quantity of food.
Conditions are so bad that one child has repeatedly tried to commit suicide, three times in three consecutive days (see case study at the end).
Bet El Military Detention Centre: On 4/7/2003, a DCI lawyer visited Bet El detention centre outside Ramallah where there are currently around 15 child prisoners. Overcrowding continues to exacerbate already poor conditions and around 9 inmates share a 2.5X2.5 cell containing just 4 mattresses.
At the start of July, boys reported that they were not given breakfast for at least four days. On another day, they were given mouldy bread. As a rule, the boys reported that the food is inadequate for the number of inmates. Breakfast usually consists of a loaf and 3 small cartons of yoghurt, lunch is usually dry rice and dinner is a very bad smelling egg.
Another worrying development at Bet El has been the reported misappropriation of Red Cross clothes and other items delivered during a visit on 2/7/2003. Boys said that the prison administration didn't distribute the materials and that the soldiers started to use them and wear them and stole everything that the Red Cross brought. This is a thoroughly reprehensible act, particularly given the sensory and physical deprivation that prisoners are already experiencing.
Telmond Prison: On 8/7/2003, a DCI attorney attempted to visit children in Telmond prison. After a two-hour wait at the gate, the lawyer was told that there was an emergency situation in the prison. The visit venue was then changed to the family room (where there are bars between prisoners and visitors) at Ofeq Hasharon, which is near to Telmond.
After another hour, guards brought the first child prisoner. The child was forced to walk some distance in the heat over a rocky road that is still under construction with his hand and legs cuffed. The prisoner was tired from the long walk. Due to the delays and time-wasting tactics by the prison administration, the lawyer only managed to see two prisoners.
According to those prisoners, the prison administration is still refusing to recognize Ali al-Maghribi as the prisoner's representative and have prevented him from moving between rooms. At the time of the visit, Ali had been in isolation for 14 days for trying to negotiate in the name of the prisoners. Ali is trying to convince the other prisoners to take action against the prison for its poor treatment of prisoners.
Key Problems in Telmond are: Overcrowding - Telmond prison was designed for 64 prisoners but there are currently 73 are being held in 32 rooms of around 6m2. This means that new prisoners are forced to sleep on the floor.
Clothing Shortage - There is a shortage of adequate clothing because prisoner's clothes have become old and damaged over time. The Red Cross brings some clothing but it is not enough. Some of the prisoners have to wear winter clothes despite of the hot weather.
Pests - There are a lot of rats, mice and harmful insects inside the prison, which are causing diseases. Despite requests, the administration is not doing anything about this problem.
Poor Health Treatment - One prisoner, Ibrahim from Gaza, is suffering from shrapnel wounds in his stomach and lost his arm after an explosive device blew up in his hand. He is only receiving basic painkillers, despite the amount of pain he is in.
Poor Food - children are provided with two meals a day, at 1200 and at 1700. One day a week they get meat, which is badly prepared. The rest of the week they get a plate of soup and a dish of rice. Prisoners don't get any alternative food supplies from their families and there is a huge shortage of money among the prisoners who are currently 8000 NIS ($1=NIS4.4) in debt with the cafeteria.
Restrictions on lawyer visits - As mentioned, visits are taking place in the family room in Ofeq Hasharon prison where there is a net between the lawyer and the prisoner. It takes around one hour to bring each prisoner because they have to walk some distance in leg cuffs, which causes them additional suffering.
Ramle prison: A DCI lawyer was able to visit Ramle prison on the 10th of July 2003 where there are currently 77 Palestinian women prisoners, including 9 children. Two girls have been released from Ramle this month.
This month, girls reported that some problems have arisen among the inmates themselves, resulting in the prison administration's use of force to separate the girls and put them in different cells. The situation worsened when, the next day, one of the girls refused to return to her cell after the one-hour break. The prison administration forced her back into her cell using violence. Guards were also violent with the other girls in her cell as well.
The following morning during the counting, one girl refused to stand up. The administration forced her to stand and started to scream at her. Prison guards came and began to beat prisoners. Some of the girls were forced into their cells. These problems mean that girls have been stopped from visiting other rooms.
Other key problems in Ramle include:
Lack of education: Although the Israeli Supreme Court has ruled that education should be allowed inside prisons, no measures have taken to improve this, rather education has been prohibited, teachers are not allowed in and books and study equipment are lacking. This is a major obstacle for the girls who are preparing for their Tawjihi exams or are in the final stages of their education.
Poor food: Food quality remains poor and lacks all kinds of basic vitamins. Girls say that they do not have enough money to buy extra food from the canteen to supplement their diets.
Lack of clothing: Another problem is the lack of appropriate summer clothes in this prison. Girls have to share their clothes and are even wearing winter clothes in the baking summer heat.
Case Studies
1) Samer, not his real name, is a 14 year old from Hebron who was arrested on 20/7/2003. He has tried to commit suicide three times in three consecutive days, because of the inhumane treatment of the guards in Atzion detention centre. During the first attempt, he tore his blanket apart and knotted the pieces together in order to wrap it around his neck and hang himself from the window. At the last minute, soldiers discovered him, untied the blanket and started beating him. The next day, Samer tried to commit suicide in the same way as the day before, but he got scared and decided not to. The third day, he said that he used the elastic on his underpants to try and hang himself, but the elastic broke.
Samer has said that he is trying to commit suicide because of the unbearable and inhumane treatment by Israeli soldiers. For a few days he was kept in solitary confinement without fresh air and light and he was not allowed to go to the toilet during this period. He has been sentenced to 2 months imprisonment and 500 NIS fine for throwing stones.
2) 15 year-old Mohammed Salem Al-Harbawi from Hebron , was arrested on 20/07/03 and taken to Atzion detention centre. Like many other prisoners, he has been visited by a lawyer, but has been unable to see or communicate with his family.
The unhygienic conditions in this centre mean that most inmates, including Mohammad, have contracted skin diseases, including boils. By 28/7/2003, Mohammed was affected so badly that he was taken for hospital treatment. After the doctor had examined him, Israeli border guards took him back to the prison. On the way, the guards stopped the jeep and started to attack him inside the vehicle. The five guards beat him to such an extent that he lost consciousness.
3) In Ramle women's prison, 20-year old Mirvat Taha from Ramle gave birth to a son, Wael, in Spring this year. Mirvat was initially sentenced to 2 1/2 years imprisonment, although this was reduced to 20 months after an appeal. Miryat gave birth without any complications in prison and she and Wael were cared for at Asaf Harouva hospital. However, after some time in the prison, Wael began to suffer from allergies and sensitivities because he had not received his first vaccinations on time. Wael was then given injections to reduce this sensitivity.
However, Miryat and Wael's condition remains difficult because of the poor conditions at the prison and the lack of family visits due to restrictions. Mirvat said that she is not getting enough vitamin rich food to produce healthy baby milk and that this is having an effect on the baby. Until now, no paediatrician has been able to visit her or the baby inside the prison and the prison doctor does not have enough experience in treating children, particularly little babies. Meanwhile, Miryat's husband has found it difficult to visit because of restrictions on visits.
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