2024-01-02 02:11:19
The Israeli Prison Service (IPS) announced Monday the death of a 23-year-old Palestinian prisoner affiliated with Fatah, the party of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, adding that it was “examining” the circumstances of his death.
The prisoner, whose identity was not revealed, died in Meggido prison in northern Israel, the IPS said in a statement. Originally from the city of Nablus in the north of the occupied West Bank and a member of Fatah, he was arrested in June 2022 before being sentenced to prison for “security offenses”, according to the same source.
“As in any event of this kind, the circumstances (of the death) will be examined,” she added. The Prisoners’ Commission, a body under the Palestinian Authority, confirmed the prisoner’s death, saying it was working to obtain details about the circumstances of his death. On December 21, Israeli police indicated that around twenty prison guards had been questioned before being released “under restrictive conditions” as part of an investigation into the death of a Palestinian detainee following alleged violence.
Hardened conditions
According to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, Thaer Abu Assab, 38, from the town of Qalqilya in the northern occupied West Bank, died in November after being beaten by prison guards in southern Israel where he was detained. The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) said the case raised “serious suspicions about the transformation of the Israeli Prison Service from a professional incarceration agency into a vindictive and punitive force.” “Six prisoners have already died in prison. All cases of abuse and deaths must be investigated immediately,” he added.
At the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, which began on October 7, the Israeli prison authorities announced a tightening of the conditions of detention for Palestinian prisoners: no more leaving the cell – and therefore visiting rooms -, no more purchasing in the canteen or power outlets in cells, and more frequent surprise searches. According to figures from the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, an association which defends their rights, Israeli prisons had some 7,800 Palestinian detainees at the beginning of December.
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