gelatik
17.05.02, 00:22
The conditions at Ketziot Prison, where some 500 Palestinians are being held
and dozens
more are being sent every day, are hazardous to health and do not meet minimum
humanitarian standards, according to lawyers representing various human rights
organizations. Ketziot is divided into a number of areas, each of which
contains three tents,
housing 20 detainees. In each area, there is a combined shower and latrine, in
which
people wash with a hose over an open, channel carrying excrement. Prisoners
complain
about insects, a problem that has not been solved despite the use of various
insecticides.
Thus far, none of the detainees has been given a clean set of clothes to
replace those they
were wearing when arrested.
The prisoners also complained they have not been given enough food, which is
never
warm. They get a piece of frozen schnitzel in the afternoon, in addition to a
tomato, red
pepper and cucumber that are divided among ten people, and tea that is often
sandy. The
food is already causing digestive problems. There is no electricity in the
tents and latrine
except for a single 25-watt bulb in each tent that is inadequate for reading or
writing.
Requests for batteries for transistor radios have been denied. Since their
arrest, the
prisoners have not been allowed to call their families.
Different psychological torture methods are being used such as sleep
deprivation and a
policy of standing at all times. During interrogation, sleep timings, and
throughout the day
the detainees are forced to stand, depriving their broken bodies of much needed
rest.
For many of the detainees, the meeting with the lawyers was their first contact
with the
outside world since being arrested early this month. Attorney, Tamar Peleg,
organized the
visit. Mr. Peleg negotiated with the Israeli Occupation Authorities for five
days over the right
to visit the detainees. The lawyers presented their impressions to the camp
commanders,
and Mr. Peleg said they were promised food and clothing to be transferred to
detainees,
through lawyers and civil rights groups. Several other detention camps are to
be
investigated, after permission is obtained from the High Court of Justice.
