Ibtisam Al-Anati, Attorney of the Center for Defense of Liberties and Civil Rights “Hurryyat” visited several Israeli prisons, particularly the Hadarim Detention Center, Meggido, Ramon, Nafha, HaSharon, Ofer, and Ramla prisons, and met with several prisoners including Moutasem Yasin, Haytham ‘Anati, Zaki Anees, Ayman Bani Odeh, Noor Atatra, Tarek Abbadi, Baher ‘Ashou, Shady Halawa, Hussein Dirbas, Ibrahim Ighbarieh, Nader Jaffal, Abdul Fattah Doleh, minor Khaled Al-Sheikh, Marwan Waheed Al-Bakri, Mohamad Hassan Bassa, Ashraf Abu Al-Huda, Maslama Thabet, and Rateb Hreibat.

In Ramon Prison, the met detainees stated that the situation in prison has remained the same despite the agreement between the prisoners and the judge to “return transferred prisoners to prison, extend family visits for Gazan families to one hour, allow monthly visits instead of bimonthly visits,” and confessed that the policy of medical negligence including offering treatment and surgeries on time is ongoing. In the Ramla Hospital Prison, Al-Anati visited 16 sick detainees namely: Mansour Mewqada, Nahed Al-Aqra, Iyad Radwan, Rateb Hreibat, Mohammad Salaymeh, Mahmoud Abu Osba’, Shadi Daraghmeh, Hassan Haddad, Motaz Obeido, Ashraf Abu alHuda, Yousif Nawajaa’, Salah al-Titi, Mo’tassem Raddad, Mustafa Balut, Anan Jallad, and Khalid al-Shawish. The prisoners condemned the conditions of the Ramla Hospital to be bad as the department is small and lacks the treatment requirements for their chronic diseases that need utmost care. They told the lawyer that all sick prisoners are being given the same painkiller called “Crantex” that is ineffective in some cases. They also affirmed being constantly body checked following management orders leaving the department isolated. In Meggido Prison, prisoner Baher Barakat Saleh Ashou from Nablus, detained in 31/03/2002, admitted suffering from heart problems as a result of mitral valve malfunction while the malfunction was already detected in his solitary confinement in Hadarim Detention Center. Baher confirmed the deliberate negligence of his health conditions; he is not taking medication, demands reviewing his medical file, and demands medical assistance. Shadi Samir Halawa, detained in Ramon Prison, is suffering from a nervous disorder and hepatitis C, and he is in need of Proctocolectomy. As for Marwan Waheed Al-Bakri from Jerusalem, Al-Anati met him in HaSharon Prison where he admitted developing a skin disease upon his imprisonment and despite being given medication and lotions, his health condition is not improving.

Regarding the Palestinian minor detainees, the number of minors in Ofer Prison reached 99, 33 of whom are convicted while the rest are detained. Since the beginning of 2015, 89 children have been detained in a rate of one child every day; 4 children in January, 23 in February, and 21 in March. The prisoners in Ofer confirmed an increase in verdicts and fines against children detained in February, where some verdicts reached 9 months while others ranged between 9-26 months. Yet March was milder witnessing verdicts ranging from 5 to 7 months of imprisonment. The health conditions of minors in Ofer registered 34 conditions under the supervision of the

prison clinic, and concerning their education, the elder prisoners have provided them with a special educational program, and equipped classrooms.

Minor Khalid Al-Sheikh, arrested in Ofer for 4 months and expected to be released in the coming days, reported being in good health after visiting the clinic, doing a blood test, and taking vitamin supplements (B-12 and iron).

The 34 Jerusalem minor detainees reside in HaSharon Prison and have reported being physically abused by the Nahshon Battalion members, and expressed their need to press charges addressing the competent authorities. Fadi Salaymeh, for example, pressed charges against being beaten in court and in front of his parents who in turn demanded lawyers from the different competent organizations to increase their visits to minor detainees for the positive effect these visits pose upon the psychology of the minor prisoner.

Hurryyat condemned the continuous policy of medical negligence committed by the Israeli Prison Services (IPS) against the Palestinian prisoners. Hurryyat also condemned the policy of child harassment during the arrest and interrogation, and addressed the international community, the World Health Organization, the International Community of the Red Cross, and the UNICEF to act upon their obligations and condemn the Israeli policies committed against the prisoners in general, and the patients and children in particular. Hurryyat called for exerting pressure on the Israeli government to stop these policies and to form investigation commissions that can visit prisons and monitor closely and truthfully the violations of torture and deliberate medical negligence.

The Center for Defense of Liberties and Civil Rights (Hurryyat) organized a meeting with the directorate of the Civil Police Force joined by member organizations in the Palestinian Human Rights Organizations Council and the Palestinian Coalition against Torture. The meeting emphasized the consequent responsibilities to Palestine’s accession to the Convention against Torture (UNCAT), and methods of enhancing the role of Palestine in protecting the rights of citizens.

A productive discussion led to several recommendations mainly the importance of prohibiting torture by law, the significance of adapting legislations to align with the UNCAT provisions, and the necessity of developing the instruments of monitoring visits to interrogation and detention centers aiming for a Palestinian society free from torture and mistreatment.

The participants stressed the need of enhancing communication between the human rights organizations and the civil police force in order to treat any possible cases of torture deeming it a national necessity in the legal, political and diplomatic struggle that Palestine faces against ending the occupation and its atrocities.

Ramallah/ The Center for Defense of Liberties and Civil Rights (Hurryyat) along with the Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR) have organized a meeting introducing the concept of shadow reporting. The meeting comes in light of Palestine’s initial report submission under the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT), and highlights the importance of the role the civil society institutions (CSI) play in submitting alternative or shadow reports monitoring and clarifying cases of torture and mistreatment. The meeting aimed at enabling the participating organizations to write these parallel reports in accordance with the measures recognized internationally.

Hurryyat Executive Director Mr. Helmi Araj stressed the importance of Palestine’s accession to international conventions concerned with human rights and the international humanitarian law, particularly the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, and the CAT. Attorney Musa Abu Dheim, Head of ICHR West Bank program, also pointed to the importance of such a meeting for the work and responsibilities of civil society institutions in shadow reporting.

Attorney Rizeq Shuqair, legal counsel of Hurryyat, indicated the resultant responsibilities facing the State of Palestine concerning the adaptation of legislatives, and the challenges facing Palestine as a State under occupation limiting it from fulfilling its responsibilities. On his part, Mr. Khader Sarsar, Executive Director of the Treatment and Rehabilitation Center for Victims of Torture (TRC), called against undermining the significance of shadow reporting and called upon the related and concerned organizations to join forces in preparing these reports. Ms. Mayada Waleed also introduced the Palestinian Coalition against Torture and stressed the significance of documenting every violation committed by torture and mistreatment.

  Yasser Alawneh, a legal researcher at the Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR), discussed the shadow reports in their technical and procedural details. He discussed the entry into force of the conventions and their consequences upon the State of Palestine, and also discussed the submission of international reports where four initial reports are due this year for submission to the human rights treaty bodies.

Alawneh further discussed the general provisions of reporting especially those concerned with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; the working methods of the Human Rights Committee, the consequences of not submitting the reports to the treaty bodies, and the impossibility of withdrawal from the Covenant. Moreover, he provided a sample of the questions the Committee raises concerning the reports, and provided an insight into the relations between the Human Rights Committee on the one hand, and the National Human Rights Institutions, and the Non-Governmental Organizations on the other hand.

The meeting featured several participants amongst who were representatives from the Cabinet, Birzeit University, SHAMS Human Rights and Democracy Media Center, the Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center (JLAC), TRC, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES), the Women’s Affairs Technical Committee, Mandela Institute, and Addameer Prisoners Support and Human Rights Association. The participants led a general discussion that examined details of shadow reporting, samples of shadow reports by other countries, and the requirements of professional shadow reporting in Palestine.

Ramallah/ The Center for Defense of Liberties and Civil Rights (Hurryyat) along with the Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR) have organized a meeting introducing the concept of shadow reporting. The meeting comes in light of Palestine’s initial report submission under the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT), and highlights the importance of the role the civil society institutions (CSI) play in submitting alternative or shadow reports monitoring and clarifying cases of torture and mistreatment. The meeting aimed at enabling the participating organizations to write these parallel reports in accordance with the measures recognized internationally.

Hurryyat Executive Director Mr. Helmi Araj stressed the importance of Palestine’s accession to international conventions concerned with human rights and the international humanitarian law, particularly the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, and the CAT. Attorney Musa Abu Dheim, Head of ICHR West Bank program, also pointed to the importance of such a meeting for the work and responsibilities of civil society institutions in shadow reporting.

Attorney Rizeq Shuqair, legal counsel of Hurryyat, indicated the resultant responsibilities facing the State of Palestine concerning the adaptation of legislatives, and the challenges facing Palestine as a State under occupation limiting it from fulfilling its responsibilities. On his part, Mr. Khader Sarsar, Executive Director of the Treatment and Rehabilitation Center for Victims of Torture (TRC), called against undermining the significance of shadow reporting and called upon the related and concerned organizations to join forces in preparing these reports. Ms. Mayada Waleed also introduced the Palestinian Coalition against Torture and stressed the significance of documenting every violation committed by torture and mistreatment.

Yasser Alawneh, a legal researcher at the Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR), discussed the shadow reports in their technical and procedural details. He discussed the entry into force of the conventions and their consequences upon the State of Palestine, and also discussed the submission of international reports where four initial reports are due this year for submission to the human rights treaty bodies.

Alawneh further discussed the general provisions of reporting especially those concerned with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; the working methods of the Human Rights Committee, the consequences of not submitting the reports to the treaty bodies, and the impossibility of withdrawal from the Covenant. Moreover, he provided a sample of the questions the Committee raises concerning the reports, and provided an insight into the relations between the Human Rights Committee on the one hand, and the National Human Rights Institutions, and the Non-Governmental Organizations on the other hand.

The meeting featured several participants amongst who were representatives from the Cabinet, Birzeit University, SHAMS Human Rights and Democracy Media Center, the Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center (JLAC), TRC, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES), the Women’s Affairs Technical Committee, Mandela Institute, and Addameer Prisoners Support and Human Rights Association. The participants led a general discussion that examined details of shadow reporting, samples of shadow reports by other countries, and the requirements of professional shadow reporting in Palestine.

The High Commission to follow up the detainees and ex-detainees’ affairs submitted an appeal to the United Nation, to its Secretary General Mr. Ban Ki-moon, and to international committees and human rights organizations, to help save the lives of prisoners in Israeli prisons especially the sick. Sick prisoners are suffering from deliberate medical negligence and are subject to daily and continuous harassments by the Israeli forces violating international law through continued detention, harsh living conditions, daily attacks and harassments of prisoners, prohibiting visits, solitary confinement, and the cruel detention policy at whole that transgresses basic human values.

We, the High Commission to follow up the detainees and ex-detainees’ affairs, the political forces and human rights organizations, will inaugurate this year mass and popular events for reviving the Palestinian Prisoner’s day to help spread this humanitarian cry to the world conscience and to all the bodies and organizations concerned with human rights. We demand the following:

1- Condemning the Israeli violations against our people and stopping the turning of a blind eye away from the crimes of the occupation particularly against prisoners.

2- Providing international protection to prisoners against any daily brutal attacks and harassments inside Israeli prisons.

3- Reconsidering the role of the United Nations and forming an international commission of inquiry to investigate the situation in Israeli prisons.

4- Stripping the occupation from the legal immunity, holding it accountable for its crimes and imposing comprehensive boycott measures on it until it complies with the international law.

5- Urging the World Health Organization and humanitarian bodies to take total responsibility in granting access to medical and health committees for inspecting the detainees, victims of the deliberate medical negligence in the Israeli prisons, and force their immediate release.

6- Demanding immediate intervention for releasing the Legislative Council members who have been arrested despite the Parliamentary immunity.

7- Demanding immediate intervention for releasing veteran prisoners and the prisoners rearrested after the Shalit Prisoners Exchange.

We call upon you in our continuous national struggle towards asserting our inalienable rights including our right to return, self-determination and national independence in a sovereign state with Jerusalem as its capital.

The Palestinian Human Rights Organizations Council (PHROC) firmly condemns the Israeli occupation forces decision issued by the military commander to arrest Khalida Jarrar from her house last Thursday for a six month administrative detention. The council calls upon the International Community, particularly the High Contracting Parties in the Fourth Geneva Convention, to pressure the occupation to release Legislative Council (LC) member Jarrar and all the Palestinian LC members and detainees from the Israeli prisons.

On Sunday 5th of April 2015, the military commander of the occupation forces sentenced LC member Khalida Jarrar to a six month administrative detention period. On Thursday April 2nd 2015, she was arrested from her house in Ramallah city while her mobile phone and laptop were confiscated and she was detained by the Israeli forces. She was interrogated at the Ofer military prison west of Ramallah, and is now detained in HaSharon military prison.

According to statistics from Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, member of PHROC, about 23 women are captivated in prisons, and 15 members of the Legislative Council are in Israeli prisons, 8 of whom are administratively arrested.

PHROC firmly condemns the arrest of Khlaida Jarrar as a policy of the occupation to criminalize Palestinian activists and leaders, and punish them for their struggle and right to self-determination. The PHROC thus affirms the following:

1. Administrative detention as practiced by the occupation is arbitrary, illegal, and deprives Palestinian detainees from their right to fair and regular trials. These practices are deemed war crimes according to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, article 8 (2) (a) (vi), where “willfully depriving a prisoner of war or other protected person of their rights of fair and regular trial” is considered a war crime.

2. The detention policy practiced by the Israeli forces against politically active Palestinians is a vengeful act against civilians prohibited by the Fourth Geneva Convention. This policy violates the International Humanitarian Law and the International Human Rights Law, and disengages the occupation from its legal commitments.

accordingly, PHROC calls upon the International Community, particularly the High Contracting Parties in the Fourth Geneva Convention, to pressure the occupation to release LC member Jarrar and all the Palestinian LC members and detainees from the Israeli prisons following their commitment to the articles of the convention especially article 1 committing to respecting the convention, and their commitment to article 146 committing to persecuting whomever commits grave breaches of the convention.

The Center for Defense of Liberties and Civil Rights “Hurryyat” condemns the Israeli Knesset decision of discussing the “death sentence for terrorists” bill against Palestinian prisoners, deeming it a dangerous immoral and racial approach that transgresses humanitarian principles.

This gesture shortly followed the decision of Israeli military commander of the West Bank division to implement the Criminal Law on every Palestinian fighting for the freedom and independence of their people. This gesture represents a response to the political, diplomatic, and legal battle which granted Palestine a non-member observer State status in the United Nations enabling Palestine to join the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Hurryyat calls for uniting the efforts on a national scale to face this racist campaign aiming at threatening the determination of the Palestinian people, destroying the resistance of prisoners, and reaping their legal rights in freedom. Hurryyat also calls for supporting political prisoners, protecting them through their recognition as war prisoners, and exposing the ICC to all the atrocities that the occupation commits against them.

The Center for Defense of Liberties and Civil Rights “Hurryyat” condemned the Israeli Occupation Forces for arresting Khalida Jarrar, member of the Palestinian Legislative Council and member of the Political Bureau of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, from her house in Ramallah City on Thursday 2/4/2015.

The arrest of Khalida Jarrar is one of several methods featuring the continuous arbitrary policies practiced by the Israeli Occupation against members of the elected Palestinian Legislative Council. The majority of the 16 members arrested were held in administrative detention violating international conventions particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949.

Hurryyat believes that the continuous arrest of the elected legislative council members is a violation to the internationally guaranteed parliamentary immunity. The center also requested the international community and the Arab and International parliaments to condemn this policy and pressure the Israeli government to release all the legislative council members from the Israeli jails.

In light of the previous sessions conducted, the Center for Defense of Liberties and Civil Rights “Hurryyat” organized a third general meeting gathering the Preventive Security Forces Leadership in participation with the Independent Commission for Human Rights, Al-Haq Institution, Treatment and Rehabilitation Center for Victims of Torture, and the Women’s Center for Legal Aid and Counseling, to discuss the obligations following the accession of Palestine to the UNCAT.

The following recommendations were concluded:-

1- Enhancing the prohibition of torture and the serious investigation of complaints concerning torture practices.

2- Adapting the Palestinian national legislations with the UNCAT standards.

3- Maintaining the monitoring mechanisms between the Human Rights organizations and the Preventive Security Forces.

4- Stressing the importance of sustaining regular visits to interrogation and detention centers by Human Rights Organizations.

Following the round table meeting with the leadership of the Preventive Security Forces (PSF), The Center for Defense of Liberties and Civil Rights “Hurryyat” initiated a prolonged meeting gathering senior officers of the PSF including managers, legal advisors, interrogation officers in all governorates, and representatives of the Independent Commission for Human Rights Institutions (ICHR), Treatment and Rehabilitation Center for Victims of Torture (TRC), and Al-Haq Institution.

This meeting discussed Palestine’s obligations following its accession to the United Nations Convention against Torture.

The discussion was transparent and straightforward as it revealed the situation of the Palestinian people under occupation regarding the International Humanitarian Law and the International Law for Human rights, and focused on the torture practices in Palestine and the cooperation mechanisms between the PSF and Human Rights Organizations on torture prohibition and serious follow up of all the complaints reported Concerning torture practices in the PSF detention centers.

Dear Brothers and Sisters

Fellow comrades

On behalf of the European Alliance in Defense of Palestinian Detainees, I would like to offer my sincere gratitude to “Hurryyat” Center for the invitation to participate in this important conference.

Restricting the movement and travel of liberated prisoners to certain areas and inside and outside of Palestine represents a duration of punishment to the prisoners after their liberation as a means of oppressing them, obstructing their normal livelihood among their families, and justifying their imprisonment again as in the cases of Samer Issawi, the symbol of patience and resistance, and many others.

These procedures practiced by the occupation break all international laws and norms; these prisoners, following the laws of the occupation, have served their sentence and the duration of their punishment thus has no justification. We therefore call upon all Palestinian institutions and international human rights organizations to put an end to these oppressive practices.

Please allow me to seize the occasion and invite you to participate in the Second European Conference in Support of Palestinian Prisoners, which will be held in Berlin City in 30-31/5/2015. The conference will focus on the conditions of the prisoners including children, women, sick prisoners, administrative detainees and the punishment measures practiced by the occupation against thousands of liberated prisoners in particular. We thank you again for the invitation and we value your role in supporting the Palestinian prisoners in particular and defending the liberties of the Palestinian people in general. We hope this conference proceeds with success.

Freedom to all prisoners of freedom!

European Alliance in Defense of Palestinian Detainees

Europäische Allianz für die Solidarität mit den Palästinensischen Gefangenen

C/O: Dr. Khaled Hamad, Liegnitzstr. 28, 53721 Siegburg, Germany, Tel: 00491715411168, Fax: 0049-2241-2653744,asrafalastin@web.de https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-European-Alliance-in-Defence-of-Palestinian-Detainees/590907887618242

Accountnumber.:Sparkasse Köln, IBAN: DE08 3705 0299 0001 0389 45, BIC: COKSDE33

The Center for Defense of Liberties and Civil Rights “Hurryyat” organized a conference at the headquarters of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society on Wednesday the 25th of February; that highlighted the damages caused in the lives of thousands of citizens due to the travel banning policy and restricting the freedom of movement that violates the provisions guaranteed by the International Convention of Human Rights and the International Humanitarian Law.

The convention was privileged with the attendance and participation of several personalities many of whom are banned from travel including the Mufti of Bethlehem Governorate Al Sheikh Abd el-Majeed Ata Mohammad Amarneh, the writer Walid Al-Hodali, and the vice president of the General Union of Palestinian Women Nihaya Mohammad Taqla; Other representatives attended the conference including Mr. Maroof Zahran Undersecretary of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and the representative of the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights Mr. Bahaa Al-Saadi. Some of the speeches presented included a speech by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), sponsor of Hurryyat, presented by Mr. Jihad Shomali, a speech by the Palestinian National and Islamic Forces presented by Dr. Wasel Abu Yousef, member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Front, a speech by Mr. Shawan Jabarin representing the Palestinian Human Rights Organizations Council, and a speech by Mr. Helmi Araj representing the Center for Defense of Liberties and Civil Rights.

The conference was introduced by the chairman of Hurryyat, Mr. Taysir al-Zabri, who welcomed the attendance and stressed the importance of such an event. He ended the speech thanking all those who contributed to making this convention possible, and affirmed the need to combine forces at all levels to overcome this case.

The participants posed several demands as follows:

First: Request the international community represented by the Secretary General of the United Nations Mr. Ban Ki-moon, the European Union, and the High Contracting Parties in the Geneva Convention 1949, to intervene against the occupation authorities and end their arbitrary policies and means.

Second: Urge international human rights organization to organize advocacy campaigns pressuring and mobilizing the world public opinion against this policy.

Third: Urge governmental and non-governmental organizations, political fractions and forces, and all those banned from travel to combine efforts in bringing this issue to the surface through a national work plan with the cooperation of international bodies and institutions, making this case a priority.

Fourth: Create sub-committees for those affected by the ban as a prospect of forming a permanent national committee monitoring travel bans through statistics and documentations that prove the gravity of the violations committed regularly and in silence since the occupation.