Jibril Al-Zubaidi, brother of the prisoner Zakaria, confirmed on Monday evening, that his brother’s health condition had deteriorated and that he had entered the Intensive Care Unit.
Zakaria is one of six Palestinian prisoners who managed to escape from the high-security Gilboa prison in northern Israel, at dawn last Monday, before the Israeli authorities re-arrested him, about 5 days after his escape.
Zakaria’s brother posted on his Twitter account a picture showing Zakaria lying on a hospital bed with an oxygen mask on him.
Jibril Al-Zubaidi sent a message to the Palestinians in the 1948 territories, asking them to go to Shaare Hatzidek Hospital to check on his brother, saying “Save Zakaria, and tell us about his health.”
The marks of torture and beating were visible on Al-Zubaidi’s face and body following his re-arrest by the occupation forces.
Palestinian human rights organizations stated that the Palestinian prisoner, Zakaria Al-Zubaidi, is still in the Israeli Shaarei Tzedek Hospital, and his health condition is stable, adding that “according to Arab workers at Shaare Zedek Hospital, the prisoner Al-Zubaidi is in stable condition, and he did not enter the intensive care unit.”
The human rights organisations called on the International Committee of the Red Cross and all international institutions to take urgent action to reveal the fate of the four re-arrested prisoners, and to inform their families of their news, stressing that the occupation’s policy of hiding information on the detainees and the places of detention of prisoners, preventing them from their right to meet with lawyers, as well as publishing news about the transfer of prisoner Zakaria Al-Zubaidi twice to the hospital, raises serious concerns over their fate.
Arab Organisation for Human Rights in the UK (AOHR UK) had called on the international community to take urgent measures to protect the Palestinian prisoners inside Israeli prisons, and the families of the six prisoners who managed to escape from the Israeli Gilboa prison on Monday, September 06, in response to strict measures and collective punishment the Israeli authorities impose always pursues against the Palestinian people.
In a recent statement, AOHR UK stressed that escape of the six prisoners is not a criminalized act by international law, as prisoners of war have the right – which applies to the Palestinian prisoners – to take any path to gain their freedom, especially if the punishment is harsh and severe.
Moreover, some countries consider escaping from captivity as a national duty, as the Code of Conduct for Members of the US Armed Forces states that “a prisoner of war shall be prepared to escape whenever there is a chance.”
AOHR UK stressed that any retaliatory behavior against the six prisoners is in violation of international treaties and covenants, as Article 91 of the Third Geneva Convention states that “prisoners of war who succeed to escape within the meaning of this article and who are captured again shall not be subject to any punishment for their previous escape. “.
