HK wrote:


The facts are simple: the Israelis treat their prisoners humanely. We do
not.

Israel: Palestinian prisoners suffering inhuman conditions of detention
on hunger strike

The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) expresses its grave
concern at the hunger strike observed by a large number of political
prisoners detained in Israel.


Send Alerted by its member organizations Al Haq, the Palestinian
Center for Human Rights (PCHR) and the Public Committee Against Torture
in Israel (PCATI), the FIDH recalls that thousands of Palestinian
political prisoners are currently on hunger strike in order to protest
against their detention conditions and their treatment inside Israel
Prison Service facilities.

The FIDH is extremely worried as the strike, that started on 15th August
in 4 Israeli prisons, is now spreading throughout other detention
facilities.

According the FIDH member organizations, the PCHR, Al Haq and PCATI,
prisoners are routinely subjected to torture, degrading treatment and
humiliation and especially to humiliating strip searches. Moreover,
political prisoners are often placed in solitary confinement for
extended periods of time. Since 15th August 2004, Israeli authorities
have taken harsh measures from the moment some prisoners declared their
intention to strike, such as transferring dozens of “prison leaders”
from general sections to solitary confinement, prohibiting all visits by
families and lawyers to the prisoners.

The FIDH had already published a mission report in 2003 denouncing the
bad conditions of detention of Palestinian prisoners in Israel and the
impossibility for their families to visit them. (Palestinian Detainees
in Israel: Inhuman Conditions of Detention, July 2003:
http://www.fidh.org/communiq/2003/i...) .

The FIDH recalls that such measures contravene namely to the UN Standard
Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, applicable in situations
where individuals are deprived of their liberty.

The FIDH recalls that all individuals who are deprived of their liberty
shall be treated with humanity and with respect for their human dignity.

Considering that the prisoners’ demands are in conformity with the
international standards ensuring a human treatment to individuals
deprived of their liberty, the FIDH, together with its member
organizations, urges the Israeli authorities to:

ensure better conditions of detention to the Palestinian political
prisoners detained in Israel;
respect its international obligations under the ICCPR, the ICESCR, the
Convention Against Torture;
abide by the international Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of
Prisoners.