Ref: 07 / 2021
Date: 20 Jan 2021
Press Release
The International Commission (ICSPR) calls the international community to start an effective investigation into the circumstances of the Palestinian prisoner “Maher Sa`sa” martyrdom in the occupation prisons.
The Gaza Strip / The International Commission to Support Palestinians’ Rights (ICSPR), followed with great concern and condemnation the news of the Palestinian prisoner’s Maher Sa’sa’s martyrdom, a 45-years-old from Qalqilya Governorate in the West Bank, who has been detained since 2006, serving a 25-year prison term. He was martyred this evening in the “Rimonim” prison, on January 20, 2021.
According to the data of the Prisoners’ Affairs Authority and PPSMO, there are no clear details yet about the reasons for Maher Sa’sa’s martyrdom, given that he had several health problems. Amidst the policy of wilful medical negligence in the occupation prisons, which contradicts the minimum basic principles for the treatment of prisoners adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1979 and 1990, which emphasized the protection of detained prisoners’ health and medical care.
The International Commission to Support Palestinians’ Rights (ICSPR), holds the Israeli occupation authorities fully responsible for the death of the prisoner Sa’sa, as a result of their inaction and the continuous slow killing policy against Palestinian prisoners. Reaffirming that the continuation of the medical negligence policy against prisoners and detainees constitutes a real threat to their lives inside prisons, in light of the inability and silence of the international community and its institutions to curb the crimes of the occupation.
Therefore, it affirms and demands the following:
– The International Commission (ICSPR) demands the international community to work hard in order to form an urgent and impartial international investigation committee to uncover the prisoner’s death circumstances, announce its results, and hold the perpetrators accountable. This includes requiring the occupation authorities to assume their legal responsibilities towards Palestinian prisoners and detainees, especially in light of the outbreak of the Corona-virus.
– The International Commission (ICSPR) demands the Palestinian leadership to refer the file of Israeli violations against prisoners and detainees to the International Criminal Court, and urges them to start an immediate investigation into the grave violations they are exposed to inside Israeli prisons, including serious work to internationalize their just cause.
