A statement issued by the Human Rights and Democracy Media Center “SHAMS”
About the martyrdom of the prisoner Nour Barghouti in the occupation prisons
“SHAMS” Center calls for the formation of a special UN committee to investigate the martyrdom of the prisoner Nour Barghouti in the occupation prisons
Human Rights and Democracy Media Center “SHAMS” calls for the formation of a special UN committee to investigate the circumstances of the martyrdom of the young prisoner Nour Jaber Al-Barghouti (23) from the town of Aboud northwest of Ramallah, who was killed today, Wednesday, 4/22/2020, and who was detained about (4) years ago. He was sentenced to 8 years in prison, after he was subjected to severe fainting while in the bathroom in Section 25 of the Negev Desert Prison, and the occupation forces deliberately delayed his transfer, resuscitation, and the necessary health care for him after losing consciousness. This raises the number of martyrs of the captive movement to (223) since 1967.
“SHAMS” Center condemns in the strongest terms the systematic medical negligence policy pursued by the occupation authorities and the administration of the Israeli Prison Authority, and its execution on the same day in cold blood, the 25-year-old Ibrahim Helsa, from the town of Al-Sawahra at the container checkpoint separating Bethlehem and occupied Jerusalem, and what came after it Of the violations and collective punishments represented in the arrest of his mother, continuing to violate international law and human rights standards, and the arrest of 6 citizens in a separate context, which confirms that the crimes of the occupation are continuing and the Corona pandemic is being exploited and preoccupied by it to implement his racist colonial policies.
“SHAMS” Center holds the occupying Power “Israel” fully responsible for this crime in its capacity as the party in charge of detaining the prisoner and which is required by international law and norms to take all necessary and expeditious measures to ensure that the protected persons are housed in places that meet health and safety conditions and in a manner that preserves their lives. According to Article (85) of Geneva IV 1949.
“SHAMS” Center reminds that the policy of deliberate medical negligence is systematic in the prisons of the occupation, as prisoners are subjected to massive violations of their right to health, including failure to provide health care or provide adequate treatment to each prisoner, each according to his illness or according to the quantity and time required, and the lack of medical laboratory examinations for prisoners, and preventing the Palestinian Ministry of Health from introducing tools for medical examination of prisoners, procrastinating in the conduct of surgical operations for years, which exacerbates the health status of the sick prisoner and may expose him to the risk of death. In addition to the poor equipment and lack of showers and WC’s, failure to take measures responsive to personal hygiene needs by the prison administration, and rightly neglect People with special needs, the blind, and the prisoners who need respirators and sprays for asthma, and refraining from providing meals that fit the diet of patients with high blood pressure, diabetes, heart or kidneys diseases, and deprivation of medicines. Rather, violations of the right to health extend to other aspects, including jamming devices, the electromagnetic waves and dangerous radiation they transmit, poor hospitals and health clinics, and serious violations at the level of the direct participation of medical personnel working in prisons in torturing prisoners according to their testimonies, and subjecting many prisoners to medical experiments with forbidden or under development medicines and medical drugs. Also, some officers and employees of the Israeli Prisons Service and investigators are infected with the Coronavirus, which leads to the transmission of the virus to the prisoners, and prisons are a fertile focus for the spread of the virus, especially given their old age, high level of humidity, lack of proper ventilation, harsh climate and overcrowding.
“SHAMS” Center demands that the occupation prisons be opened to international and local human rights organizations and the need for all international parties to urgently provide protection and care for dozens of sick detainees and to work for their immediate release, especially in light of the outbreak of the Coronavirus. “SHAMS Center” demands the need of “The High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention 1949” to oblige the detaining occupying power to open an urgent investigation in accordance with Article 131 of the aforementioned convention, without this detracting from the need to form an international commission of inquiry that possesses the characteristics of impartiality, integrity and independence to determine the merits of the crime and hold those responsible for it accountable to prevent similar potential crimes pursuant to Article (90) of the First Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions of 1977. “SHAMS” Center stresses the necessity of the UN Special Rapporteurs fulfilling their responsibilities in preparing urgent reports, highlighting violations of Palestinian prisoners’ rights to health and exposing Israeli practices in a way that enables Occupation state accountability, which constitutes a kind of deterrence to it. The Center also calls for the necessity of the following: the UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights to work at the level of popular and public diplomacy. The need for the Prisoners and Executives Affairs Authority to coordinate with the Palestinian human rights organizations in particular working in the fields of prisoners, women and children, and to cooperate in preparing files on Israeli violations against prisoners in light of the Corona virus. Calling on parliaments around the world to condemn Israeli racism represented in the refusal to release Palestinian prisoners despite the risk of the outbreak of the Coronavirus, and to issue decisions in support of the prisoners. The call for the formation of an international medical committee that has the characteristics of impartiality, integrity and competence to undertake examination of prisoners and communicate with their families in light of the state of blackout imposed by the occupation prisons administration and loss of confidence in prison clinics. Call upon the International Committee of the Red Cross to assume its legal and humanitarian duties and responsibilities, and to play its role effectively in communicating with Palestinian prisoners, supervising and monitoring their conditions in prisons, and informing their families of their conditions.