Ref: 54/2019
Date: 4 August 2019
Press Release,
ICSPR calls on the international community to intervene quickly to save the lives of Palestinian prisoners who are on hunger strike in the Israeli occupation prisons
The International Commission to Support Palestinians’ Rights (ICSPR) is following with deep concern and condemnation the deterioration of the health conditions of dozens of Palestinian prisoners and detainees on hunger strike in Israeli jails, who are protesting against the policy of administrative detention and the policy of neglect and denial of their most basic legal and human rights, which are contrary to the minimum principles and values of international humanitarian law, foremost of which are the 1949 Geneva Conventions.
According to data, the Israeli occupation authorities have recently issued about 107 administrative detention orders against a number of Palestinian prisoners and detainees for periods ranging from two to six months, renewable several times, in contravention of international standards on the rights of prisoners, which led to a surge in individual hunger strikes in prisons.
ICSPR holds the occupation authorities full responsibility for the lives of hunger strikers and reiterates that the Israeli occupation authorities deliberately pursue coercive policies against Palestinian prisoners and detainees, in order to undermine their dignity. Therefore, ICSPR demands the following:
- ICSPR holds the Israeli occupation authorities full responsibility for the lives of Palestinian prisoners and detainees on hunger strike, and calls for the response of their demands that led them to participate in the strike.
- ICSPR calls on the international community to intervene to compel the occupation state to abide by international human rights standards, in particular the conventions and charters on the rights of prisoners and those deprived of their liberty, such as the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners of 1955 and the Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment of 1988.
- ICSPR calls upon the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to intervene urgently to prevent further deterioration of the humanitarian situation of hunger strikers.
- ICSPR calls upon the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to open an immediate investigation into the grave Israeli violations of Palestinian prisoners and detainees in Israeli jails, including those on hunger strike.
ICSPR
