Detainees' Institutions: occupation authorities arrested (471) Palestinians in February 2020

Israeli occupation authorities arrested (471) Palestinians from the occupied territories in January, including (95) minors and (11) women. Detainees' institutions and human rights organizations (the Commission of Detainees and Ex-detainees' Affairs, the Palestinian Society Prisoner's Club, Al Dameer Association for Human Rights) pointed out that occupation authorities arrested (156) citizens from Jerusalem, (49) from Ramallah, (120) from Hebron, (37) from Jenin, (24) from Bethlehem, (16) from Nablus, (10) from Tulkarem, (25) from Qalqilia, (2) from Tubas, (2) from Salfit, (21) from Jericho and (9) from Gaza Strip. (5000) detainees are currently imprisoned in Israeli jails including (43) women, (180) minors and (430) administrative detainees, while (107) new administrative detention orders have been issued. Administrative detention The Israeli authorities continue to impose the administrative detention on (430) Palestinian detainees, based on military orders issued by the Israeli Intelligence, under the pretext of "confidential file". However, and according to the International Law, this detention affects human rights due to the absence of judicial procedures, and does not take into consideration the rules of International Law which set many restrictions on applying this kind of detention. Reports showed that the Israeli authorities issued (107) administrative detention orders in February 2020. The detainee Ahmad Zahran The Israeli authorities issued an order of renewing the administrative detention of the detainee Ahmad Zahran in March 2020. However, he was supposed to be free according to an agreement with the Israeli Intelligence. Zahran entered a hunger strike at the end of 2019, against his administrative detention and lasted for 113 days. He ended his strike in 14/1/2020, after reaching an agreement stating to reopen the interrogation after suspending his strike. After interrogating him at Al-Maskoubya detention center, the results showed nothing, but the Israeli authorities breached the agreement again and issued a new order of administrative detention against him. Zahran still suffers from bad health conditions due entering hunger strike twice at 2019. The first one lasted for 39 days and suspended after promising him to be freed, but the Israeli authorities renewed his detention for 4 months. The second strike was at the end of 2019 and lasted for 113 days, during which his health condition deteriorated, but the Israeli authorities breached the agreement again and renewed his administrative detention. It worths mentioning that Zahran spent a total of (15) years in prison, he is a father of 4 kids and he is arrested since March 2019. Minors at Damoun prison, continuous suffering The Israeli authorities continued practicing the arbitrary measures against detainees in general and minors in particular. The suffering of minor detainees who have been transferred from Ofer prison to Damoun prison is going on. Minors were subjected to a series of punishments and arbitrary measures since their transfer in January 2020, as they announced a hunger strike protesting against their transfer and holding them in a section that lacks the minimum elements of human life. The strike lasted for 5 days. In response of the strike, the administration of prison imposed many punitive measures against minor detainees, such as closing the section and preventing them from going out to the prison's yard, confiscating their belongings and depriving them of family visits. In addition, they were subjected to attacks and beating during the break in to their rooms, and they got tied to the beds. In a testimony of the adult detainee Mohammad Hamed, who was transferred to Damoun prison, he stated that he found all minor detainees tied with plastic ties. Another detainee testified that the conditions at Damoun prison are very bad, where the section of minors is under the ground and it is consisted of five rooms, three of which have no windows. There are no doors for the toilet, and there is no place for preying. The majority of minors have no covers or blankets, and the rooms are full of insects. Based on prolonged talks between detainees and the administration of prisons, it was agreed on February 2020 that the representatives of minor detainees to be transferred to Damoun prison to follow up the minor detainees. The Detainee Muwafaq Erouq encounters cancer and jailor The detainee Muwafaq Erouq, 77, who has cancer and going on a difficult health condition after removing a large part of his stomach and intestines. He is suffering from severe pains and high temperature and that he lost weight and could not eat or drink. He is being fed through a tube inserted in his abdomen. The repeated transfer of the detainee between Berzilai Hospital and Al-Ramlah clinic increased his pain and worsen his health condition. Institutions reviewed the suffering of the detainee Erouq since his detention in 2003. He was charge of transporting two young men who had committed martyrdom operation, and he was sentenced to 30 years of imprisonment. During his detention, he was transferred from Ishel prison to Hadareem prison and then to Jelboa prison where he spent 8 years and then to Ashkelon prison. Doctors diagnosed him with cancer in the liver and stomach on July 2019, but the administration of prison procrastinated in his chemotherapy which worsened his health condition. He is married and a father of 6 sons and daughters (Maher, Muna, Nuha, Waseem, Manar and Murad, and he has 21 grandsons. His family could not visit him since the beginning of 2020.