Gaza – Ma’an – Yesterday, the Al-Dameer Association for Human Rights in Gaza visited a number of Gaza detainees in Ofer prison; where the detainees are still subjected to various forms of torture, beatings, abuse and cruel treatment on a daily basis, to the point of fainting from the severity of the physical and psychological harm, and they are punished for not having a lawyer visit them.
One of the detainees reported that he was punished for 6 hours by being placed directly under the sun, after the lawyers visited him. In the testimony of one of the detainees, he said, ‘I was transferred from one detention center to another inside the detention center – from one barrack to another – for 17 days in each place, and I was subjected to a blow – a punch – on my eye that caused bleeding in the eye and I lost my vision as a result of the blow, in addition to tying our hands and covering our eyes and sitting on our knees the entire time.’ Another detainee reported, ‘A new life of suffering began, like graves above
the ground, moving between the barracks that accommodate 120 detainees in a close-knit environment with very thin sponge mattresses full of epidemics and insects that caused us painful skin diseases. We sit in a painful position for the legs and without movement, and whoever moves is subjected to beating and abuse. Dogs are brought in to attack us in the detention center, and on one occasion the dog broke some of my ribs while I was handcuffed in front of me and blindfolded for 90 consecutive days, and I used to sleep in this Position (bound and blindfolded).
“Most of the detainees are put in ‘disco huts’ where there are very loud noises that almost make the detainees lose their hearing from the intensity of the sound. This is part of the deliberate psychological abuse,” he continued.
The Dameer Foundation for Human Rights confirmed that these retaliatory and revengeful measures are a systematic policy that expresses the orientations of the Israeli occupation government, especially its extremist minister “B
en Gvir”, and that all the torture practices that the detainees are subjected to are considered a crime against humanity according to what is stipulated in the Convention against Torture, which is binding on the Israeli occupation as a party to the Convention, as well as Common Article (3) of the Geneva Conventions. These practices are also considered war crimes under the Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court.
Accordingly, Al-Dameer Human Rights Foundation demanded that the International Committee of the Red Cross act in accordance with its responsibilities to follow up on the conditions of detainees, reveal the fate of Gaza detainees, visit them, and expose the practices and violations to which they are subjected. It
also demanded that the International Criminal Court open an immediate and serious investigation into the conditions of detainees and prisoners in Israeli occupation prisons, considering that what the occupation authorities are doing constitutes war crimes and even amounts
to crimes against humanity. It
also demanded that the Special Rapporteur on Enforced Disappearances take immediate action regarding the detainees in the Gaza Strip and reveal their fate and places of detention.
Source: Maan News Agency