The Palestinian Council for Human Rights Organizations called today, Monday, for urgent messages to the diplomatic missions accredited to the State of Palestine, the United Nations bodies and the International Committee of the Red Cross, to intervene to protect Palestinian prisoners amid fears of exposure to the emerging Corona virus.
The messages dealt with the rapidly deteriorating conditions of Palestinian prisoners and detainees in the prisons of the Israeli occupation in light of the expanding spread of the new Corona virus. The Council of Organizations called for urgent intervention to ensure the health and safety of the prisoners, especially since many of them are minors or have chronic diseases, and other administrative detainees in contravention of international law.
The Occupying Power has prevented Palestinian prisoners from family visits or lawyers since the beginning of this month, claiming that the prevention came as a precautionary measure against the virus. Moreover, the prisoners do not appear before the courts, which means that their legal representatives are prevented from communicating with them even through phone calls, in light of the continued refusal of the Prison Authority of the Occupying Power to install landlines inside prisons, which means that the International Committee of the Red Cross is the party The only ones allowed to visit prisoners.
The Council of Organizations also called on the ICRC to inform the Palestinian community of the prisoners´ conditions and measures to protect their health and safety.
The Council expressed its increasing concern about the health and safety of Palestinian prisoners and detainees in light of the widespread spread of the Corona virus, and in light of the policy of deliberate and systematic medical neglect by the occupation authorities in prisons and investigation centers.
