Prisoner Institutions Call for Restoring the Core Functions of Protection and Accountability in the International Human Rights System
Ramallah, Oct 6 (KUNA) -- Palestinian organizations concerned with prisoners in Israeli occupation prisons have called on the international human rights community to restore the protective and accountability functions as the core of the international human rights system. This appeal came during a sit-in and press conference organized by these organizations in Ramallah, marking the third anniversary of the genocide war launched by the Israeli occupation against the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023, which continues through violations of ceasefire understandings, resulting in further martyrs and wounded.
Speakers at the conference stressed that the continuation of violations in the absence of accountability must not become normalized, and that the accumulation of evidence, testimonies, and decisions cannot remain disconnected from practical measures ensuring victim protection, opening accountability pathways, and ending impunity.
For his part, Abdullah Al-Zghari, head of the Prisoners Club in the West Bank, said at the press conference that "prisoner organizations demand immediate compliance with the advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice, which affirmed the illegality of colonial occupation and the necessity of ending it and fully dismantling its settlement foundations." Al-Zghari added that "at the heart of these commitments, the organizations emphasize the necessity of dismantling the discriminatory military justice system, which exploits a legal cover to legitimize repression and collective punishment, thereby requiring the immediate, comprehensive, and unconditional release of all Palestinian prisoners and detainees without any restrictions or political conditions, considering their freedom an inherent right that admits no fragmentation or political bargaining."
He also stressed the call for all states, individuals, and organizations to bear their legal and moral responsibilities regarding the use of the death penalty against Palestinians, treating it as a crime that violates the fundamental right to life and creates a fundamental conflict with relevant international human rights obligations, particularly the prohibition of torture.
For his part, Amin Shoman, head of the Higher Committee for Prisoner Affairs, emphasized that "the sit-in and press conference in Ramallah today aim to amplify the voices of all human rights institutions that must bear their responsibilities toward prisoners in Israeli occupation prisons." He stressed that Palestinians are called upon by the people to mobilize in support of prisoners, backing them in facing occupation policies to enhance their resilience.
In a statement, organizations concerned with prisoners in Israeli occupation prisons also stressed the necessity of intensifying international pressure on the occupation to halt the implementation of the death penalty, abolish it, and refrain from issuing or executing any death sentences against Palestinians, ensuring that neither the military nor civilian judiciary is used as a tool to impose this penalty on a discriminatory basis.
According to the statement issued by prisoner organizations, more than 100 individuals have been martyred in occupation prisons over the past three years, with the identities of 92 of them announced, while the fate of dozens of Gaza Strip martyrs remains concealed and the bodies of dozens of prisoner movement martyrs are being held.
The statement affirmed that "detention is no longer solely aimed at depriving Palestinians of their freedom, but has become targeted at their very existence through an integrated system of practices that turn prisons into spaces for slow killing, such as torture, starvation, denial of medical treatment, sexual assaults, the use of rubber bullets, and electric shock devices."
The statement pointed out that there have been more than 26,000 arrest cases in the West Bank since the start of the genocide, clarifying that this figure does not include arrest cases in the Gaza Strip, which number in the thousands due to significant difficulties in documentation and monitoring caused by continued shelling and military operations, information blackouts, and the detention of prisoners under conditions of isolation and obscurity. (End) N.Q. / N.A.A.
