Since assuming power, the Minister of the so-called Zionist National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, has been leading a major campaign of incitement and escalation against Palestinian prisoners in the occupation prisons, represented by issuing laws targeting them and tightening restrictions on them, and the latest of these decisions is “cancelling the early release” of prisoners before the end of their sentences. It entered into force last Friday.
It should be noted that this law is the fourth of a series of previous laws issued by Ben Gvir over a period of 6 months, which aim to tighten the pressure on prisoners. Among these laws is limiting visits to half an hour every two months, reducing television channels, and limiting them to Hebrew channels. Reducing the quantities of food, vegetables, fruits, and cantina, reducing treatment, integrating prisoners, disrupting the work of regulatory bodies, and other measures.
In response to this, the official in charge of the Office of Martyrs, Prisoners and Wounded in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine , Awad Al-Sultan, confirmed to Al-Hadaf Gate that “Ben Gvir’s issuance of the decision to cancel the early release of Palestinian prisoners comes within a systematic Zionist policy aimed at deepening and doubling the suffering of prisoners in prisons.”
The Sultan explains the administrative “early release” law by saying: “It gives the prison director the authority to decide to reduce the term of the Palestinian prisoner’s sentence. The law stipulates that 21 days are deducted for the prisoner in the first and second years of his imprisonment for each year of his sentence. As for the third year, 7 days will be deducted, provided that the period of deduction of the judgment does not exceed 6 months.”
The Sultan says, “The decision deprives the prisoners of their rights guaranteed by international conventions and agreements, which is that whoever serves two-thirds of the term receives what is called the ‘menhali,’ but the Prison Service, with the support and instruction of Ben Gvir and the occupation government, wanted to enact laws, the most important of which is the law.” “Cancelling the early release” of prisoners, this shows the racism and fascism of the occupation, which wants to kill them morally and forcibly, and aims to break them and dissuade them from the path of struggle.
The official in charge of the Office of Martyrs, Prisoners and Wounded in the Popular Front adds, “Prisoners will no longer be able to be released administratively because of this decision, even though before the implementation of the decision hundreds of prisoners with light sentences were released every year, for several reasons, including an increase in The numbers of prisoners, overcrowding and the lack of free space for prisoners in prisons,” pointing out that “Ben Gvir considers early release to be part of improving the lives of prisoners, and therefore he does not want to ease their burden, especially the sick ones. This demonstrates the policy of exclusivity of prisoners that Ben Gvir follows against them.” .
Regarding the repercussions of the decision on the prisoners, specifically the sick ones, the Sultan points out that it “aims to eliminate those who suffer from a serious health condition, which means intentionally killing them, such as targeting the life of the prisoner Walid Daqqa, whom the occupation still refuses to release despite the end of his sentence and even after his diagnosis.” with myelofibrosis , a rare cancer that affects the bone marrow, on December 18, 2022,” noting that “overcrowding in cells and prisons increases the suffering of prisoners and the spread of diseases within them, especially in light of the prisons’ lack of the most basic basics of life and human components.”
The Sultan points out that “Ben Gvir takes decisions from time to time targeting prisoners, gradually out of fear of the reaction of the Palestinian prisoners inside the prisons,” explaining that “Ben Gvir’s decision is extremist and populist, through which he wants to use the prisoners as a mathematical equation within the occupation entity. Specifically in the Zionist elections, to gain more votes and win public opinion in his favor, by enacting laws that restrict prisoners.”
In turn, the specialist in prisoner issues, Dr. Raafat Hamdouna said that Ben Ghafir was directly responsible for the administration of the Prisons Service, as he visited many prisons and detention centers, including the Nafha and Negev prisons, and at that time he threatened the prisoners with more restrictions, adding that “when he took over the so-called Responsibility for Internal Security, tightened laws such as “abolishing the early release” of prisoners, withdrawing bakeries, reducing the use of water, executions of prisoners, overcrowding of rooms, and other legal proposals that targeted all the lives of prisoners and their details in terms of education and visits.
Commenting on the use of prisoners as pawns for Zionist political bidding, Hamdouna explains, “Ben Gvir treats the issue of prisoners as a political partisan competition, and by restricting the prisoners he tries to win as much of the public as possible, and he tries to satisfy the extreme right-wing public by dealing with… The issue of prisoners is purely political.”
Hamdouna explains, “Ben Gvir’s decisions are not the first. Rather, they were preceded by many of them prohibiting visits, withdrawing bakeries, executions of prisoners, and reducing water, and finally the law to ‘cancel early release’ of prisoners, which was proposed by Ben Gvir,” indicating that “the Shin Bet agency warned From this proposal, saying: “Not releasing early those with light sentences would increase pressure and overcrowding in prisons, especially in light of the increase in daily arrests, and this would lead to a security gap.”
Regarding the suffering of the prisoners due to this decision, Hamdouna points out that “it will increase and double their suffering within captivity, as the prisoner will remain for his full term until the last moment of his sentence, and will not receive any privilege within captivity, in exchange for giving privileges to Jewish detainees, and this represents clear racism and discrimination.” by the occupation against Palestinian prisoners, in addition to the increase in the rate of overcrowding in the occupation prisons, where each prisoner has a space granted to him according to the prison service administrations, and when compared to other prisons, they are prisons in which you find a lot of suffering, because the space granted to the prisoner is much less than what the organizations specified. international”
Hamdouna continues: “The majority of prisoners who are arrested and received by prisoners inside prisons are in need of necessities such as blankets, shoes, and clothes, and this falls on the shoulders of the old prisoners and the new ones, which would increase the suffering of the prisoners in light of preventing visits and not allowing the Red Cross to bring in the needs of the prisoners.” “.
Regarding the legality of the decision or not, the specialist in prisoner issues points out that “the decisions issued by the occupying entity, including the Ben Gvir decisions, are not legal, and the prisoners have basic and human rights stipulated in international agreements, and these internationally affirmed articles have to do with the quality of the decision.” food and drink, respect for religious rituals, and regular visits, education and culture,” stressing that “the decision, from a legal standpoint, is like previous decisions that contradict all international agreements that affirm the human and basic rights of Palestinian prisoners.”
It is noteworthy that approximately 5,000 Palestinian prisoners are languishing in occupation prisons, including 31 female prisoners languishing in “Damoun” prison, and 160 children and minors, distributed among (Ofer, Megiddo, and Damoun) prisons.
By: Ahmed Zaqout
