Ramallah, 18 October 2012 – Ayman Nasser appeared today in Israeli court in Jerusalem, where the prosecution requested that his interrogation period be extended by another 15 days. During the court appearance Addameer lawyer Mahmoud Hassan referred questions to the prosecution regarding the failure of the interrogators to provide Ayman with his medication, as Ayman is currently only getting two out of the five medications that he requires daily.

 

During his court appearance Ayman said that the main focus of the interrogation had been his involvement in the Handala Center, which is an educational, artistic center in Ayman’s village Saffa and of which he is the Chairperson. Ayman argued that the center is completely transparent and is registered with the Palestinian Authority, in full compliance of Palestinian law.

 

Addressing the court Ayman said he believes ‘that every human being has opinions and positions and if it’s not violating the law he can freely think and speak these opinions. I am a human rights defender who supports the Palestinian prisoners and I represent my opinions in the public media. My thoughts are not secret, they are public, and everyone knows them’.

 

The judge ruled that based on ‘secret evidence’ he would extend Ayman’s interrogation period for another seven days and referred the situation of the medicine to the doctor at Moskobiyyeh detention center.

 

This referral to the doctor is quite worrying as it has been well documented by Addameer and other human rights organizations, such as Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, that the withholding of medication or medical treatment is systematically used by doctors in the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) to pressure prisoners into complying with the demands of Israeli intelligence.