The suffering of Palestinian detainees in the occupation’s prisons continues, due to the efforts by occupation forces to renege on their commitment to halt inhumane practices against prisoners and restore conditions in the prisons to what they were prior to 2000.
  Information indicates that there is a real danger to the lives of the detainees Akram Ar-Rikhawi, Samir Al Barq, and Hasan As-Safadi, in view of the deterioration of their health due to an uninterrupted hunger strike over a very long period of time.
The available information indicates that the detainee Akram ‘Abdullah Muhammad Ar-Rikhawi (39 years old), a resident of Rafah, is continuing his hunger strike for the 92nd consecutive day, despite the fact that he has been in Ar-Ramlah prison hospital due to his asthma for eight years and that his state of health has become critical during this time.
  Muna Naddaf, a lawyer with the Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, was able to visit the three prisoners in Ar-Ramlah on Thursday 5 July 2012.
  She said in a statement that the prisoner Akram Ar-Rikhawi had been subjected to poor treatment in Assaf Harofeh hospital, and that he is suffering from a problem in his thigh muscle and from deficiencies of folic acid and of vitamins B-1, B-2, and B-12, as well as weakness in the heart muscle.
The prisoner Samir Hilmi ‘Abdullateef Al Barq (36 years old), a resident of Jayoush village by the city of Qalqiliya, is also continuing his hunger for the 52nd consecutive day.
  Al Barq was arrested on 11 July 2010, and announced his open hunger strike on 22 May 2012, after the occupation authorities violated their agreement with the committee of striking prisoners.
  This agreement requires that renewal of administrative detention be curbed and that the policy be brought into conformity with law, but occupation authorities renewed Al Barq’s administrative detention on 21 May 2012 for a period of three months.
  He is intent on his demand for immediate release because he is detained without any charge or trial.
  The lawyer Muna Naddaf affirmed that Al Barq’s condition has seriously deteriorated.
The prisoner Hasan Zahi As‘ad As-Safadi (34 years old), a resident of Nablus, is also continuing his hunger strike for the 22nd consecutive day.
  He was arrested from his home on 29 June 2011.
  After the prisoners’ agreement the occupation authorities renewed his administrative detention for the third time, on 21 June 2012, for a period of six months.
  He announced the resumption of his hunger strike on the same day, in protest against the occupation’s violation of the agreement which it signed with the prisoners’ committee on 14 May 2012, in accordance with which the administrative detainees who had embarked on the hunger strike were to be released.
  As-Safadi began his earlier strike, lasting for 27 days, in opposition to the policy of administrative detention and demanding his release.
  He was punished several times for his hunger strike, and moved to the clinic at Ar-Ramlah prison hospital on 27 June 2012 due to the deterioration in his state of health.
  He is still suffering the effects of his strike prior to the agreement between the prisoners and the occupation authorities, and has lost eight kilograms of weight since then.
In a separate context, the prisoner Dirar Musa Yusif Abu Sisi is suffering from poor health conditions in solitary confinement, to which he has been subject since his kidnapping from Ukraine at the hands of the Israeli Mossad on 19 February 2011.
  According to information relayed by his family, he has lost 35 kilograms of weight since his arrest due to the poor conditions of his detention.
  A lawyer from the Palestinian Prisoners’ Association noted during a recent visit to the solitary confinement wing at Ashkelon prison that Abu Sisi is suffering from poor health, and according to a report by the Association the prison doctor told him that there is no treatment for his condition.
  He is suffering from poor vision, particularly in the left eye, and also from sharp pains in his head which are preventing him from sleeping.
  Despite his health condition, the prison doctor is not concerned at all, and given the circumstances the prisoner Abu Sisi maintains that this ongoing negligence is deliberate.
  The prisoner underwent medical tests some years ago finding problems in his retina, yet the prison administration refuses to present him to an eye specialist, indicating the poor treatment to which he is being subjected.
According to the information available to the Center, the suffering of Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons continues, despite the most recent announcement, on 14 May 2012, that an agreement had been reached through Egyptian mediation under which the strike undertaken by prisoners from 17 April 2012 was ended.
  The prisoners’ demands were an end to the policy of solitary confinement, annulment of what was known as the “Shalit Law,” return of prison conditions to those prevailing before the Al Aqsa Intifada, legal reform of the policy of administrative detention, and provision of appropriate medical care to sick prisoners.
  But the Israel Prison Service is attempting to sidestep this agreement, and has yet to commit to its official implementation.
The Al Mezan Center for Human Rights expresses its grave concern for the lives of the prisoners on hunger strike, particularly Ar-Rikhawi, and reaffirms its solidarity with the Palestinian and Arab detainees in Israeli prisons.
  It likewise charges the occupation authorities with the full responsibility for their lives and restates its sharp condemnation of the grave abuses Israel carries out against Palestinian prisoners, starting with the Unlawful Combatant Law and administrative detention, alongside all procedures which infringe on the humanity of prisoners, especially solitary confinement, medical neglect, strip searches, denial of family visits, and other such practices.
Al Mezan demands that the international community - especially the signatory parties to the Geneva Conventions - put pressure on the occupation state and force it to respect its obligations under international law, and to treat detainees humanely in keeping with the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners issued in 1955, and other relevant international standards.
  There must also be steps taken towards guarantee of the release of all Palestinian prisoners, especially those thrown in prison without charge or fair trial, including appeal to all means of defense.