Press Release - May 16, 2000
A massive number of Israeli occupation forces have attacked Majido Prison, which contains 650 prisoners. This dangerous move was carried out after enforcing a strong besieging of the prison, sounding the alarms and firing hundreds of tear gas canisters and sound bombs at the prisoners, their belongings and their tents. The attack led to injuring more than one hundred prisoners. The injuries included burns, suffocation, poisoning and burning section 6 and part of section 5 of the prison.
A massive number of Israeli occupation forces have attacked Majido Prison, which contains 650 prisoners. This dangerous move was carried out after enforcing a strong besieging of the prison, sounding the alarms and firing hundreds of tear gas canisters and sound bombs at the prisoners, their belongings and their tents. The attack led to injuring more than one hundred prisoners. The injuries included burns, suffocation, poisoning and burning section 6 and part of section 5 of the prison.
This barbaric attack was carried out while the prisoners were standing in the prison’s court in a 3-minute silence in protest against the living conditions inside the prisons and in solidarity with the rest of the prisoners who are undergoing a hunger strike in the other prisons, and to commemorate AL NAKBA “the great Catastrophe”.
The attack of the soldiers armed with different kinds of weapons and clubs continued until midnight. It turned the prison into a burned chaos and no attempts were made to provide medical care for the injured, which endangered their lives, especially the prisoners who have breathing difficulties.
The occupation authorities imposed a military closure on the prison and refused until the time of preparing this press release to let the Red Cross in.
Moreover, the occupation authorities refused to allow the lawyers and the members of the Israeli Keneset to visit the prisoners and inspect the situation following the barbaric attack. The prisoners are still without shelter after their tents have been burned to the ground and without any medical care.
This dangerous escalation followed the hunger strike, which the prisoners are undergoing in protest against their harsh living conditions and in order to be released. The 80 prisoners of the new Hadarim prison started an open hunger strike on Monday, May 1, 2000; the hunger strike is still going on.
The other prisons have started partial hunger strikes until Asqalan prison, home of 380 prisoners, declared an open hunger strike on Sunday, May 14, 2000 after a series of partial hunger strikes.
The prisoners’ hunger strike followed many futile attempts to prevent any further deterioration to the prisoners’ living conditions and to stop the illegal and inhumane measures taken against them, in addition to pressurize the negotiators who have neglected the prisoners’ cases.
The prisoners demand, among other things, their release from prisons and abolition of solitary confinement and group isolation as well as providing treatment to sick prisoners, allow prisoners to be visited by their close and far relatives, stopping the humiliating inspection and to allow university prisoners education at Arab universities…etc.
Following this deteriorating and dangerous situation inside Israeli prisons and detention centers, ADDAMEER Prisoner’s Support and Human Rights Association demands:
- The international community, official and unofficial organizations, local and international human rights’ organizations to follow up the serious abuses inside Israeli prisons and to push for humane conditions and to eliminate the violations of the prisoners’ human rights.
- Work on scheduling an unconditional release of all Palestinian and Arab prisoners inside the prisons of the occupation authorities and considering any solution that does not lead to freeing prisoners not to be a true solution.
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