[Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association is a Palestinian non-governmental, civil institution that works to support Palestinian political prisoners held in Israeli and Palestinian prisons.]
Addameer 2018 Annual Violations Report
In 2018, the Israeli occupation authorities continued implementing their main policy to enshrine the apartheid and racism regime against Palestinians, this policy is integrated within its laws, judiciary and practices. One example is enacting bills based on reactions to incidents, or as part of election campaigns and propaganda for their different political. Also, the occupation’s judiciary continues with preforming what could be seen as mock trials to serve political objectives without ensuring the minimum guarantees of fair trials. This is mainly shown through the issuing of administrative detention orders against all segments in the Palestinian society, or to prisoners whose sentences have ended or those who have received release orders.
In 2018, the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) arrested around (6500) Palestinians, including (1080) children, (133) women, (6) PLC members and (17) journalists. Additionally, they issued (912) administrative detention orders, (398) of which were new. In 2018, the IOF continued its policy of arbitrary detention of Palestinians. The year, 2018, ended with 5700 Palestinian detained in Israeli prisons, this number included (230) were children, (54) are females including one minor, approximately (500) administrative detainees, (19) journalists, (8) PLC members, and around (700) prisoners with health issues needing urgent medical attention. There are also (27) long-term prisoners who were arrested before the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993; including the two longest serving prisoners, Karim and Maher Younis, who were arrested in 1983.
On an annual basis, Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association publishes a comprehensive report covers the violations against Palestinians from the moment of their arrest, to interrogation and then imprisonment. The annual violations report also details the daily living conditions in prisons, which are in violation of international treaties and conventions signed and ratified by the Israeli government, including the Convention Against Torture of 1984. The rules of protection for detainees provide a range of legal guarantees under international law, including: prohibition of the arbitrary detention, the prohibition of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment and treatment, the right to a fair trial, the right to visitation and other basic standards of living such as the right to health and access to education. Additional treaties also provide special protection for the violation of women and children’s rights in detention. 1. It should be noted that these figures do not reflect the full picture of intensive arrests throughout the oPt. There are cases that have not been monitored, for prisoners who were detained and interrogated for hours; some of them were released with or without conditions. 5 Israeli occupationing state systematically violate all of these international treaties despite signing and ratifying them.
The 2018 annual violations report is published in conjunction with Addameer’s ongoing efforts to free all political prisoners in the occupation’s jails. As we work towards our goal of creating a world without political prisoners, we also continue our efforts in cooperation with international and local human rights organizations to ensure that prisoners have full protection and rights enshrined by international humanitarian law and international human rights law.
The annual violations report is a tool to detail and document the systematic violations of the prisoners’ movement and to monitor the conditions inside the prisons. This report is also an essential component of Addameer’s efforts to expose the IOF’s practices and treatment of Palestinian prisoners on a wide scale. It is also a tool to document and track the changes in policy, procedures and legislation issued by the Knesset (Israeli parliament) regarding the rights of the prisoners and the Palestinian people as a whole.
The statistics, case studies and information contained in this report are based on the documentation, human rights monitoring and legal work of Addameer. This report also includes an overview of the changes in the regulations and systems within the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) in 2018 and makes a comparison to the international standards on the treatment of prisoners. This report covers Palestinian political prisoners as a holistic case despite various geographical, identification, and legislative fragmentations imposed by the Israeli occupation. It deals with the issue of the prisoners as a holistic case, based on Addameer Association belief that the prisoners of Jerusalem, the Palestinian prisoners from the 1948 territories and the prisoners of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank are united under the same oppressive structures of the occupation.
By presenting the major violations and incidents that took place in Israeli prisons in 2018, we urge the relevant authorities to immediately intervene and carry out their legal duty to hold the Israeli occupying state accountable until they halt the torture, ill-treatment and illegal detention of Palestinian political prisoners.
[Download the full report here. Addameer is a prisoner ]