Prison administration increases repressive measures against Palestinian strikers

The Palestinian prisoners confirmed, on Tuesday, that they will continue their hunger strike despite the Israeli escalating series of punitive measures against the strikers.

The Palestinian strikers had told the lawyer Fouad Sultani that they are determined to continue the strike till achieving their demands that aim to end administrative detention, isolation, collective punishment, night raids and other basic rights.

The Strikers added that the prison administration has increased its repressive measures in order to undermine their will and stop the strike. Thus, It confiscated the captives’ personal belongings including all electric appliances; radio, television, and stopped their families’ visits and anything that may connect them with the outside world.

In addition, the prison service units had raided several times the prisoners’ rooms in Nafha prison at night and took them to isolation cells, holding a “disciplinary” trial and imposed INS 250 fines against each of them in addition to solitary confinement for a number of days and denying them stroll times.

Despite all these brutal and illegal measures, the Palestinian prisoners have confirmed that they are continuing their heroic path of resistance until their demands are met.

The Arab Organization for Human Rights in Britain has stated, in a statement on Tuesday, that the strikers’ demands are legitimate, calling on the free world and Arab and Muslim people to support their battle and press on their governments to defend the prisoners’ issues.

The human rights organization has also stated that the Israeli Prison Administration had moved the hunger-strikers, threatening to impose other oppressive new measures to force them to unconditionally end their protest.

The released prisoner Ammar Oweiwi, 25 years in the occupation prisons, stated that the cpatives’ movement is going to step up the strike by stopping drinking water, pointing out that the movement’s leaders are being arrested by the IOF to weaken the movement.

He added that the prisoners are in a serious need for more support and massive and effective solidarity activities.

This hunger strike is the broadest strike since 2004 due to the increased pressure on the prisoners since 2007 especially after the capture of Shalit. The Shalit law was not annulled after Shalit was handed over in a prisoner exchange deal. One of the demands of the hunger strikers is the annulment of this law, by which captives are denied family visits.