Palestinian children suffer from "Israeli" oppressive practices in jails

Source: PIC, 05-02-2008
NABLUS- Awad Abu Daka, the manager of the media division in the prisoners' center for research and studies, warned Monday that the "Israeli" prison authority still persists in its oppressive policy against the Palestinian prisoners especially the children, calling on the legal and human rights organizations to follow up and report their suffering inside "Israeli" jails.
In a press release, Abu Daka revealed that vast majority of the imprisoned children have been beaten, tortured and humiliated at the hands of "Israeli" wardens, adding that 40 percent of those children are ill and suffer numerous diseases. They are also deprived of medical care and treatment, he elaborated.
The advocate for prisoners' rights pointed out that there are dozens of children administratively detained without any charge being leveled at them in addition to more than 200 others who are in jails without trial.
In a similar context, the administration of the "Israeli" Aylon prison barred a medical committee from visiting Sheikh Jamal Abul Haija, a prominent Hamas leader, at the pretext of security measures.
Abul Haija, who is serving nine life sentences and is being locked up in a solitary cell, suffers from many health problems. He is in dire need of surgical operations and continuous medical supervision.
The committee denounced the arbitrary measure and considered it posing a threat to Abul Haija's life, calling on the human rights organizations to form an ad hoc committee to bring up his issue and to save his life.
In another development related to the prisoners' issue, the "Israeli" Petah Tikwa interrogation center blocked for the fourth time lawyer of the Nafha legal society from visiting the detained human rights activist Ahlam Jawher, 30, and lecturer at the Najah University Dr. Ghassan Khaled.
The lawyer feared that such refusal might indicate that both were under pressures and blackmail in violation of human rights.