Ref: 46/2019
Date: 22 July 2019
Press release,
In the wake of the martyrdom of detainee Nassar Taqatqa
The International Commission calls on the International Criminal Court to immediately investigate the case of Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
The International Commission to Support Palestinians’ Rights “ICSPR” follows with deep concern and condemnation the murder of Nassar Majid Taqatqa, (31yr), while he was in solitary confinement in Ramleh prison, although he was not suffering any health problems, which indicates that his death came under suspicious circumstances. These circumstances confirm that the Israeli prisons services apply policies against Palestinian prisoners and detainees in contradiction with the human rights system.
Taqatqa was arrested on 19 June 2019 after his house was raided and transferred to Jalameh center for interrogation, and only two weeks after his arrest, the Israeli occupation authorities moved him to solitary confinement in Ramleh Prison to complete his interrogation, where according to a press release published by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, he was subjected to interrogation and isolation until he was announced dead.
ICSPR confirms that the Israeli occupation forces represented by the Department of Prison Administration deliberately follow these coercive policies against Palestinian detainees in order to undermine their dignity. ICSPR considers these policies grave violations and breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, and that the Israeli occupation bears the responsibility for the death of Palestinian detainee Nassar Taqatqa during detention and interrogation. Therefore it:
- Affirms that the Israeli occupation treats Palestinian detainees on racist, immoral and illegal bases, in contravention of the international legal norms protecting detainees in the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, the 1977 Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions and the relevant international conventions.
- Calls on the Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to fulfil their legal obligations to pressure the occupation authority to ensure that it complies with its legal obligations under international law and international humanitarian law to end its policy of degrading the dignity of detainees and to abide by all international standards governing the situation, place and conditions of detention.
- Calls upon the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to open an immediate investigation into the grave violations of Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
Regards,v
