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Urgent campaigns / Urgent Interventions / Israel / 2012 / August

Israel: Follow-up of case ISR 260712_Severe ill-treatment against two Palestinian hunger strikers

Case ISR 260712.1

Follow-up of case ISR 260712

Ill-treatment/ Administrative detention/ Hunger strike/ Serious health concerns

The International Secretariat of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) has received new information and requests your URGENT intervention in the following situation in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

New information

The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed by Addameer and Al Haq, two members of OMCT SOS-Torture Network, that Mr. Samer Al-Barq and Mr. Hassan Safadi, two administrative detainees on hunger strike, were severely ill-treated by the Israeli Prison Service (IPS), in the forms of physical brutality and psychological torture.

According to the information received, on 13 August 2012 at about 9:00 am, IPS guards entered the isolation room that Mr. Hassan Safadi shares with Mr. Samer Al-Barq in Ramleh prison medical clinic and announced their intentions to move the two hunger strikers to a room with other prisoners in the medical clinic who are not on hunger strike. Mr. Safadi and Mr. Al-Barq refused the transfer, as they considered it an attempt to further pressure them to break their hunger strikes by surrounding them with individuals who would be regularly eating in front of them.

According to the same information, after refusing to be moved, the IPS guards attacked both Mr. Hassan Safadi and Mr. Samer Al-Barq. Mr. Safadi’s head was allegedly slammed against the iron door of the cell two times, causing him to fall to the ground, unconscious. The guards then reportedly dragged him through the hall to be seen by all the other prisoners. Later that night, at about 10:00 pm, Mr. Safadi and Mr. Al-Barq were taken to a new isolation room with no mattresses. As a result, Mr. Safadi, who is currently on his 57th day of hunger strike, subsequently announced that he would no longer be drinking water.

Mr. Safadi and Mr. Al-Barq, who is currently on his 87th day of hunger, remain on hunger strike in protest against their administrative detention orders being renewed following the conclusion of Palestinian prisoners’ mass hunger strike in May. Mr. Safadi had been explicitly included in the agreement ending the hunger strike and had been guaranteed his release following the expiration of his order at the time. A final decision regarding Mr. Safadi’s extension (which was planned to take place on 6 August 2012) has been consistently postponed by an Israeli military judge and has not been reached to date.

According to the same information, Mr. Ayman Sharawna also remains on hunger strike. He is currently on his 47th day. OMCT has been informed that a fourth Palestinian detainee, Mr. Samer Al-Issawi, is on his 16th day of hunger strike. Both detainees were former prisoners who were released in last October’s prisoner exchange deal and subsequently re-arrested. They are being held based on secret information and view their hunger strikes as their only tool to protest against their re-arrest.

OMCT expresses its deep concern about the situation of the four aforementioned hunger strikers and urges the competent authorities to take immediate measures in order to ensure that they receive a proper medical treatment in an adquate medical facility, and that they are treated humanly under all circumstances. OMCT is gravely concerned that detainees carrying out a hunger strike are getting punished, including by using physical brutality, psychological torture and poor conditions of detention.

OMCT is also concerned that the procedure under which their administrative detention has been ordered does not meet international human rights standards, including their right not to be arbitrarily detained as well as their absolute right at all times not to be subjected to any cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

Background information

OMCT had earlier been informed by Addameer and Al Haq about the administrative detention of Mr. Samer Al-Barq,Mr. Hassan Safadi and Mr. Ayman Sharawna, as well as their serious health condition caused by their hunger strike in protest of their detention. OMCT was also concerned about the health condition of Mr. Akram Rikhawi who ended his hunger strike after 102 days[1].

Israel has been holding hundreds of persons from the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) in administrative detention. In the occupied Palestinian West Bank, the Israeli army carries out administrative detention on the basis of Military Order 1651, which empowers military commanders to detain an individual for up to six months if they have “reasonable grounds to presume that the security of the area or public security require the detention.” On or just before the expiry date, the detention order is also frequently renewed and this process can be continued indefinitely.

Administrative detention deprives detainees of basic safeguards, including the right to challenge the evidence on which the detention is based, warrants are not required, and the detainee may be held in incommunicado detention for an extended period, subject to renewal.

The United Nations Committee Against Torture has expressed its concern that administrative detention does not conform with article 16 of the Convention[2]. This type of indefinite administrative detention, following manifestly unfair proceedings, can amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

Action requested

Please write to the authorities in Israel urging them to:

i.               Guarantee, in all circumstances, the physical and psychological integrity of Mr. Samer Al-Barq, Mr. Hassan Safadi, Mr. Ayman Sharawna and Mr. Samer Al-Issawi;

ii.              Guarantee their unconditional access to independent physicians; 

iii.            Order their immediate transfer to a public hospital with adequate care that does not include being shackled while in the hospital;

iv.            Guarantee unconditional access to all members of their families, and guarantee that the family members are provided with all information concerning their medical condition;

v.              Order their immediate release in the absence of valid legal charges that are consistent with international legal standards, or, if such charges exist, bring them promptly before an impartial, independent and competent tribunal that will ensure due process at all times;

vi.            Carry out a prompt, effective, thorough, independent and impartial investigation into the aforementioned facts, notably the aforementioned allegations of ill-treatment, the result of which must be made public, in order to bring those responsible before a competent, independent and impartial tribunal and apply penal, civil and/or administrative sanctions as provided by law;

vii.           Guarantee that adequate compensation is awarded to them for the violation of their human rights;

viii.         At all times ensure strict respect for international human rights and humanitarian law in the exercise of its jurisdiction, including in connection with military operations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Addresses

Ø Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister, Office of the Prime Minister, 3, Kaplan Street, PO Box 187, Kiryat Ben-Gurion, Jerusalem, Israel, Fax: +972- 2-651 2631, Email: pm_eng@pmo.gov.il

Ø Brigadier General Danny Efroni, Military Judge Advocate General, 6 David Elazar Street, Hakirya, Tel Aviv, Israel, Fax:  +972 3 608 0366, +972 3 569 4526, Email: arbel@mail.idf.il, avimn@idf.gov.il

Ø Lieutenant General Aharon Franco, Israel Prison Service Commissioner, Israel Prison Service, PO Box 81, Ramleh 72100, Israel, Fax: +972 8 919 3800

Ø M. Ehud Barak, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, 37 Kaplan Street, Hakirya, Tel Aviv 61909, Fax. + 972 3 691 6940 / 696 2757

Ø Permanent Mission of Israel to the United Nations Office and Specialized Institutions in Geneva, Avenue de la Paix 1-3, 1202 Geneva, Fax: +41 22 716 05 55, Email: mission-israel@geneva.mfa.gov.il

Please also write to the embassies of Israel in your respective country.

***

Geneva, 16 August 2012.

Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.



[1] See OMCT urgent appeal ISR 260712.

[2] CAT/C/ISR/CO/4, para 17.

Properties

Date: August 16, 2012
Activity: Urgent campaigns
Type: Urgent Interventions
Country: Israel
Subjects: Arbitrary arrests and enforced disappearances, Torture and violence

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