The Center for Defense of Liberties and Civil Rights-‘Hurryyat’ issued a statement calling for the World Health Organization, Amnesty International, the International Committee of Red Cross and all international human rights organizations to intervene immediately to save the lives of the ailing prisoners in Israeli prisons. Hurryyat holds Israel full responsibility for their lives, particularly the ailing prisoners currently on hunger strike and are at risk of dying and they are: Akram Rikhawi who suffers from asthma, brittle-bone disease (osteoporosis), diabetes, cataract and atrophy of the lenses; Mohammad Abdul Aziz Abu Libdeh who suffers from hemiplegia; and Mohammad Saleh Arouri who suffers from is thalassemia. Hurryyat also urges them to intervene to save the lives of all the prisoners currently on hunger strike including 500 prisoners that suffer from various diseases.
Furthermore, the majority of the prisoners that have entered the open hunger strike are now suffering from complications that are worsening every day, two of which have entered their 70th consecutive day of their open hunger strike in rejection of the Israeli policy of administrative detention, and they are Bilal Diab and Thaer Halahleh, which calls for the urgent intervention of these organizations to save their lives.
The prisoner movement call for an end to the policy of solitary confinement, permit family visitation rights for prisoners from Gaza, and abolish the so-called ‘Shallit Law’ which deprived prisoners of their basic and humanitarian rights guaranteed by international conventions and declarations.
Hurryyat calls upon the international organizations to bear legal and ethical responsibility and break their silence in response to the daily torment inflicted upon Palestinian and Arab prisoners in Israeli prisons which can be considered as war crimes. They must condemn the crimes committed by the Israeli government and pressure them to stop and comply with the standards and principles of human rights.
Hurryyat urges of the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon to convene an urgent meeting with the High Contracting Parties to the fourth Geneva Conventions to compel the occupying power to abide by its responsibilities and obligations required by international humanitarian law and hold them accountability for violations and crimes committed against the prisoners in its prisons.
