Ramallah: The Israeli Prison Service has indefinitely suspended lawyer visits to Palestinian prisoners, as announced by the Commission of Prisoners' Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners' Club. This decision, effective immediately, is linked to "exceptional circumstances facing detainees since the beginning of the genocide," which is reportedly increasing their isolation and anxiety about their future.
According to Palestine News and Information Agency - WAFA, the Commission and the Prisoners' Club condemned the decision, noting its troubling timing with the postponement of hearings by Israeli military courts. Despite these delays, sessions for detention extensions and administrative detainee hearings are reportedly continuing.
The organizations argue that this measure is a continuation of a "policy of comprehensive isolation" against detainees, in place since the onset of the genocide. This policy reportedly includes the denial of family visits, prohibition of visits by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and confiscation of detainees' personal belongings, preventing them from monitoring external events.
They stressed that these restrictions have forced detainees into "the harshest and most severe isolation in years." The statement also referenced a recent announcement by Israeli Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, about a "crackdown on detainees," describing it as "not surprising."
The statement highlighted ongoing policies of repression and abuse, employing various weapons and arbitrary measures inside detention centers. These policies, they claimed, have reached an "unprecedented level since the beginning of the genocide, with repression becoming a daily policy against detainees."
The Commission and the Prisoners' Club assigned full responsibility to the Israeli occupation authorities for the well-being of "thousands of detainees" in their prisons. They asserted that these detainees endure "systematic crimes ranging from physical and psychological torture, to deliberate starvation, and medical neglect," resulting in the "deaths of dozens of detainees since the beginning of the genocide," amidst systematic international silence.
The organizations reiterated their urgent plea to international institutions, particularly the ICRC and United Nations agencies, to "assume their legal and moral responsibilities." They called for urgent action to halt these crimes, ensure detainees' protection, and reactivate oversight and accountability mechanisms for the occupation regime and its prisons.
