Palestinian children suffer from Israeli oppressive practices in jails

NABLUS, (PIC)-- 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.