RAMALLAH, (PIC)
The Addameer Human Rights Association – Gaza said that it was able to visit detainees from Gaza in the Israeli Ofer prison, and obtained horrific testimonies about their exposure to various forms of brutal torture.
The association stated in a statement on Thursday that it visited a number of Gaza detainees in Ofer prison on Wednesday, where the detainees are still exposed to multiple forms of torture, beating, humiliation, and cruel treatment on a daily and continuous basis to the point of fainting from the severity of physical and psychological harm.
It confirmed that the detainees are punished for the lawyers’ visit to them; one of the detainees reported that the Israeli prison guards punished him for 6 hours by placing him directly under the sun after the lawyers’ visit to him.
In the testimony of one of the detainees, he said, “I was transferred from one detention place to another inside the detention center – i.e. from one barracks to another – for a period of 17 days in each place, and I was subjected to a blow – a punch – on my eye that led to bleeding in the eye and I lost vision in it as a result of the blow, in addition to restraining our hands and covering our eyes and sitting on our knees all the time.”
Another detainee reported, “A new life of suffering began, we are living in graves above the ground while moving between the barracks that accommodate 120 detainees in a very crowded manner, with very thin foam mattresses filled with dirt and insects that have caused us painful skin diseases.”
He added, “We sit in a painful position for the legs and without movement, and whoever moves is exposed to beating and humiliation, and dogs are brought in to attack us in the place of detention, and on one occasion a dog broke some ribs of my chest cage.”
He continued, “I was handcuffed in front and blindfolded for 90 consecutive days, and I slept in this position (tied up and blindfolded).”
He pointed out that most of the detainees are placed in the disco barrack where there are very loud and high sounds that almost make the detainees lose their hearing from the intensity of the sound, and this comes within the deliberate psychological harm.
The Dhameer Foundation for Human Rights affirmed that these vengeful measures are a systematic policy that expresses the orientations of the Israeli occupation government, especially its extremist minister Ben Gvir, who is holding the portfolio of national security which is responsible for policing and jails.
It stressed that the series of torture practices to which the detainees are subjected constitute a crime against humanity, as stipulated in the Convention against Torture binding on the Israeli occupation regime as a signatory of the convention, as well as Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions.
According to the statement, these practices also constitute war crimes under the Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court.
The Dhameer Foundation for Human Rights called on the International Committee of the Red Cross to act according to its responsibilities to follow up on the situation of the detainees, reveal the fate of Gaza detainees and visit them, and expose the practices and violations they are subjected to.
It also called on the International Criminal Court to open a prompt and serious investigation into the situation of detainees and prisoners in the prisons of the Israeli occupation government, as what the occupation authorities are doing constitutes war crimes, and even rises to the level of crimes against humanity.
It urged the Special Rapporteur on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances to take immediate action regarding the detainees in the Gaza Strip, reveal their fate, and their places of detention.
