Israel Prison Service Places Total Ban on Bringing Books into Prisons and Prohibits Broadcasting of Arabic Television Channels
In April 2009 Adalah challenged two new Israel Prison Service (IPS) policies that created worsened conditions of confinement for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons: a total ban on bringing books in the prisons and a prohibition on the broadcasting of Arabic television channels. Both legal interventions were brought by Adalah Attorney Abeer Baker.
The timing of these prohibitions coincided with growing calls within Israeli Jewish society for additional restrictions to be placed on Palestinian prisoners in response to the failure of negotiations over the release of Israeli solider Gilad Shalit (captured in Gaza in 2006). Adalah argued that this timing gives rise to suspicions that these bans are tantamount to ill-treatment of Palestinians prisoners in response to the wishes of the public and calls to turn them into hostages.
On 5 April 2009, Adalah sent a pre-petition to the legal advisor to the IPS demanding the immediate cancellation of an IPS decision to place a total ban on bringing books into prisons. Adalah argued that this sweeping decision is illegal and contradicts the prison regulations, which clearly stipulate the right of prisoners to purchase reading materials, including books, and to receive such materials from their families. In addition, Adalah contended that reading books allows prisoners to spend their time in a positive and active manner.
Attorney Baker argued that the IPS’s decision violates the constitutional rights of prisoners, including the rights to intellectual freedom, dignity and education, and, most importantly, the right to freedom of expression. Freedom of expression is among the most important constitutional rights, and specifies that a person is entitled to make his opinion heard and to hear the opinions of others, whether orally or in writing. Therefore, this right can only be restricted when a prisoner expressing his view is almost certain to threaten public order and safety, or order and discipline within the prison.
Adalah strongly criticized internal prison regulations that grant the directors of Israeli prisons the authority to ban the entry of specific books into prison. Thus, for example, the regulations allow the director of a prison to ban a book that contains “conclusions and lessons from revolutions and wars between armed factions.” The regulations are also written in a vague and general manner, which affords prison directors a large amount of leeway to make decisions according to their own personal inclinations, without having to refer to specific guiding criteria. Therefore the regulations must be cancelled or greatly tailored to meet constitutional guarantees.
In a related development, according to information provided to Adalah by numerous Palestinian prisoners, the IPS has cut off broadcasts of Arabic television channels inside prisons for over a month. Prisoners can now only watch Israeli Hebrew-language Channels 2 and 10. On 19 April 2009, Attorney Baker sent an urgent letter to the IPS and the Attorney General demanding the immediate resumption of broadcasts of the Arabic channels.
Adalah argued that the ban on Arabic television channels violates the right of Arab prisoners to view the media, which is considered a violation of their right to express their opinion. It also constitutes a breach of their right to freedom of expression, which is derived from the human rights to dignity, equality and autonomy, and which a prisoner continues to enjoy even during his or her incarceration. Adalah emphasized the number of Arab prisoners in Israeli prisons is far greater than the number of Jewish prisoners (Arabs constitute around 70% of the total prison population). This figure indicates the scale of the violation of constitutional rights and the discrimination on the basis of national belonging entailed by the ban.
In the letter, Adalah further contended that watching Arabic television channels is the sole means available to Arab prisoners who do not speak Hebrew of spending the 23 hours per day which they spend inside their cells.
In case the IPS does not immediately cancel its new decisions of banning the books and cutting the broadcasts of the Arabic television channels, Adalah will go to court to compel it to do so.
