(AhlulBayt News Agency) - Israeli forces from the Israel prison service (IPS) raided the "security section" in Ashkelon prison in central Israel on Sunday evening and transferred out all 56 Palestinian prisoners being held in the section.
According to a statement from the Palestinian Prisoner's Society, 12 of the prisoners were transferred to Ramla prison while the others were transferred to unknown destinations.
According to prisoners’ rights group Addameer, Askelon prison contains a special wing for the Israeli security services, the Shin Bet, to interrogate Palestinian political prisoners.
Addameer said that as of last October, some 7,000 Palestinian prisoners were being held in Israeli prisons and detention centers.
A spokesperson for IPS could not immediately be reached for comment regarding the reason for the transfer, however, IPS authorities have regularly used raids, confiscation of personal belongings, and forcible prison transfers to suppress resistance among Palestinian prisoners.
Meanwhile, the forcible transfer of detained Palestinians from the occupied Palestinian territory into Israel is categorized as an “unlawful deportation or transfer,” a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention (Article 147), and a war crime as established by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (Article 8), according to Addameer.
A small fraction of Palestinians detained by Israel are held inside the occupied territory, while the vast majority are transferred to prisons inside Israel, limiting their access to their families, legal support, and communities, and also stripping detainees of their rights under the Fourth Geneva Convention.
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23 January 2017 - 13:35
News ID: 806757
Israeli forces from the Israel prison service (IPS) raided the "security section" in Ashkelon prison in central Israel on Sunday evening and transferred out all 56 Palestinian prisoners being held in the section.
