Five Palestinian prisoners are currently isolated in Israel’s Megiddo jail under harsh incarceration conditions.
According to Asra Media Office those prisoners are maltreated and deprived of their basic rights including the health care.
In accordance with Israel’s punishment policy against the prisoners in isolation cells and the instructions of the Shin Bet the administration of Megiddo prison uses a package of punitive measures against them to make their lives in detention unbearable.
One of those prisoners Husam Omar has been in solitary confinement for over four years during which mock courts extended his detention every six months.
The Megiddo jailers are also keen on changing the location of his isolation repeatedly and medically neglecting him as part of the punitive measures pursued against him.
Omar suffers from inhumane conditions in isolation cells which are known for being a fertile ground for diseases. As a result his health has deteriorated considerably.
Another prisoner Ahmed al-Maghrebi 43 has been in isolation cells for several years in Megiddo jail. He is serving 18 life sentences.
His current isolation started about two years ago. He already spent nine years in solitary confinement before jailers decided to end his isolation along with others following a deal with hunger strikers in 2012.
Like other isolated prisoners he is also being held under difficult conditions and medically neglected.
A third prisoner from Gaza called Mu’ayyad al-Halawli is serving 16 years in prison. He suffers from psychological problems but jailers extended his isolation detention three times with no consideration for his medical status. He has been in solitary confinement for over a year.
Two other prisoners Ramez al-Hajj and Mohamed Nassar have also been in isolation for different periods of time.
Al-Hajja who takes medication for neurological disorders and cannot speak normally is serving 21 years in jail and has been in isolation for about three years. He spends most of his time asleep because of the sedatives he takes every day.
Nassar in turn has been in isolation cells since he beat an Israeli prison officer during jailers’ assault on prisoners in the Negev jail six months ago. He also suffered injuries and bruises at the time.
As part of the isolation measures taken against them those five prisoners are also prevented from spending some time outside their cells and seeing their families and being locked up inside miserable cells which are unventilated and infested with insects and rats.
