The international community and the Red Cross must provide the necessary measures for the protection of detainees
Arab Organisation for Human Rights in the UK (AOHR UK) urged the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) to provide the necessary protection for the Palestinian detainees, as dozens of them have been infected with Coronavirus.
The prison administration acts indifferently regarding the spread of the coronavirus among the detainees. It has not taken any of the necessary measures to prevent the spread of the epidemic inside the prisons, nor did it provide the sick detainees with the required medical care, AOHR UK added.
The organisation pointed out to the deliberate health negligence of the prison administration, where 69 detainees have contracted the Coronavirus in Gilboa Prison north Palestine. The detainees demanded that a number of inmates be examined before its too late, however, the prison administration delayed the examination of the inmates for 10 days, during which the number of infected detainees became too large.
Since the outbreak of the the pandemic, the detainees and their families have expressed their deep concern over the life and wellbeing of the detainees due to the overcrowding in the cells and not allowing the detainees to be exposed enough to the sunlight. The prison authorities als failed to separate those who contracted the Coronavirus and left the detaineed held in dirty and contaminated cells. These kind of deliberate actions reflect the willingness of the Prison administration to inflict harm on detainees.
AOHR UK stressed that the Israeli Occupation authorities are fully responsible for the safety of the detainees. Under the Geneva Conventions, the systematic and deliberate negligence -especially during the spread of a deadly epedimic- is a war crime. The Israeli occupation authorities are obliged to take all the necessary measures to protect the lives and health of detainees.
AOHR UK calls on the international community and civil society NGOs to take serious measures to stop the spread of the pandemic in Israeli prisons and to save the lives of the detainees who are facing death amin complete negligence by the prison authoties.
