Prisoners' Club: The Occupation Prison Administration Continues Its Crimes Against Isolated Leaders of the Prisoners' Movement

SadaNews - The Palestinian Prisoners' Club stated that the Israeli occupation's prison administration continues its crimes against the isolated prisoners who are leaders of the prisoners' movement, the majority of whom are held in isolation in the "Megiddo" and "Janat/Rimon and Nafa" prisons.

The Prisoners' Club added in a statement issued today, Tuesday, that the targeting of the leaders of the prisoners' movement has not been a recent phenomenon; rather, this targeting has never stopped, but it has escalated since the beginning of the genocide. The prison system has employed methods of torture, abuse, humiliation, and physical assault against them, including severe beatings and the use of police dogs. The assaults in the isolation of "Megiddo" prison were among the most prominent against them, particularly during their repeated transfers from "Megiddo" prison to "Janat" prison.

The Prisoners' Club noted recent data concerning the assault against prisoner Hassan Salameh during his transfer from "Megiddo" prison to "Janat" prison along with a group of other prisoners. He was subjected to a brutal attack while handcuffed and shackled, with a particular focus on his head. Other prisoners also faced brutal assaults during the recent transfer operations.

This information comes days after the video showing prisoner leader Marwan Barghouti in his isolation cell at "Janat" prison, in which the extremist Minister "Ben Gvir" was seen making threats against leader Barghouti.

The Prisoners' Club mentioned that prisoners' institutions had previously confirmed that the occupation is making unprecedented attempts to eliminate leaders of the prisoners' movement, which has resulted in many of them suffering various and severe injuries, leading to difficult and chronic health issues, in addition to the crime of starvation that has caused them severe emaciation and a sharp decrease in weight.

According to data that some legal teams managed to document during limited visits to some of them, these assaults exceeded the levels of description and imagination; the suppression forces deliberately continue to beat them until blood flows from their bodies, using various weapons for their mistreatment, from batons to military boots, and even police dogs equipped with iron helmets. Today, most of them suffer from injuries, bruises, and wounds, along with ongoing pain that prevents them from sleeping.

The institutions clarified in a previous statement that the limited data collected at that time occurred under extreme caution to avoid exacerbating the attack against the prisoners, and that attempts to conduct visits for a group of them encountered many obstacles in front of the legal teams. Although some lawyers later managed to conduct very limited visits, these were held under strict conditions and high surveillance, amidst ongoing restrictions on visits for prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment and the leaders of the prisoners' movement since their isolation began and the implementation of systematic retaliation against them over the past period.

They added that every day that passes for the isolated prisoner since the beginning of the genocide has become a multiplied time that cannot be compared to any previous stage, as isolation has become more dangerous for the fate of any prisoner facing it amid ongoing assaults and continuous brutality against them.

Dozens of testimonies have been recorded regarding these assaults, alongside torture operations and terrorism that were accompanied by explicit threats to several prisoners of attempts to liquidate them and not allowing them to leave the prisons alive.

In this context, the Prisoners' Club held the occupation fully responsible for the fate of thousands of prisoners in the prisons and camps, including leaders and symbols of the prisoners' movement.

The institutions also renewed their demand for the international human rights system to proceed with making effective decisions to hold the leaders of the occupation accountable for the war crimes they continue to commit against the Palestinian people, and to impose sanctions on the occupation that would place it in a state of clear international isolation, restoring the fundamental role that the international human rights system was established for, putting an end to the terrifying state of paralysis that has afflicted it amidst ongoing genocide and aggression, and ending the exceptional immunity that the state of occupation enjoys as being above accountability and punishment.