Adalah Demands that Israel Prison Service Respect Agreement with Prisoners and Renew Family Visits from Gaza and the West Bank
On 18 June 2012, Adalah sent a letter to the director of the Israel Prison Service (IPS), Mr. Aharon Franco, demanding that the IPS comply with its agreement with Palestinian political prisoners who conducted a hunger strike in April-May 2012 and reinstate family visits for prisoners from Gaza. Visits have not been allowed since 2007.
On 18 June 2012, Adalah sent a letter to the director of the Israel Prison Service (IPS), Mr. Aharon Franco, demanding that the IPS comply with its agreement with Palestinian political prisoners who conducted a hunger strike in April-May 2012 and reinstate family visits for prisoners from Gaza. Visits have not been allowed since 2007.
Adalah Attorney Rima Ayoub wrote the letter in the wake of many requests for assistance by prisoners’ families who are eager to visit their relatives incarcerated in prisons in Israel. The letter emphasized that the ICRC, the authority that organizes visits for families from Gaza, had completed all preparations required to begin the visits and is awaiting confirmation from relevant authorities in Israel. The ICRC emphasized in a statement in August 2011 concerning family visits that, “The ICRC regards contacts between detainees and their families as a strictly humanitarian issue. The decision by the Israelis is of particular consequence for children, whose ties to their detained parents may become frayed or may even be severed. The ICRC has been facilitating family visits from the West Bank and Gaza for over 40 years, and has repeatedly called on the Israeli authorities to let the visits resume.”
Attorney Ayoub argued that even regardless of Israel’s 14 and 15 May 2012 agreement with the prisoners, Israel is obligated to provide family visits for the prisoners based on their right for dignity, family life, and humane treatment, as required by Israeli and international law.
The letter further pointed out that a number of international treaty bodies have insisted that Israel renew family visits immediately. The UN Human Rights Committee, which monitors compliance with the International Covenant and Political Rights, stated in July 2010 that Israel “should reinstate the family visit programme supported by the International Committee of the Red Cross for prisoners from the Gaza Strip.”
In its response to Adalah’s letter, IPS claimed that it began examining ways to bring prisoners’ families from the Gaza Strip for visits even before the hunger strike. However, the matter involves many parties including the military, the public prosecutor, the police, and other internal agencies, in addition to external agencies such as the ICRC. The IPS added that despite the complexity of the process, they are considering possible mechanisms and will begin a pilot project soon. To date, family visits have not resumed.
In another letter addressed to the director of Nafha Prison, Markovitch Ezekiel, Adalah demanded cancellation of a decision to prohibit Mrs. Rawiyya Alshanti from visiting her son, Anis Safuri, for an entire year. A Nafha Prison guard informed Mrs. Alshanti orally of this decision at the end of her visit on 30 May 2012. The ban came in the wake of her refusal to submit to a humiliating strip search, which had no legal grounds, when she entered the prison.
Attorney Ayoub argued that the decision is illegal, arbitrary and without any justification. The only way to impose such a ban is through concrete evidence that the visit will harm state security, public safety, or the safety and discipline within the prison. Mr. Safuri is classified by Israel as a “security” prisoner and therefore only allowed to receive visits from first-degree relatives (e.g., parents, siblings, and grandparents). In this case no one except his mother is able to visit him, and therefore prohibiting her visit cuts him off entirely from the outside world, especially as political prisoners are forbidden from using the telephone.
See Adalah Press Release:
Adalah Attorney Rima Ayoub wrote the letter in the wake of many requests for assistance by prisoners’ families who are eager to visit their relatives incarcerated in prisons in Israel. The letter emphasized that the ICRC, the authority that organizes visits for families from Gaza, had completed all preparations required to begin the visits and is awaiting confirmation from relevant authorities in Israel. The ICRC emphasized in a statement in August 2011 concerning family visits that, “The ICRC regards contacts between detainees and their families as a strictly humanitarian issue. The decision by the Israelis is of particular consequence for children, whose ties to their detained parents may become frayed or may even be severed. The ICRC has been facilitating family visits from the West Bank and Gaza for over 40 years, and has repeatedly called on the Israeli authorities to let the visits resume.”
Attorney Ayoub argued that even regardless of Israel’s 14 and 15 May 2012 agreement with the prisoners, Israel is obligated to provide family visits for the prisoners based on their right for dignity, family life, and humane treatment, as required by Israeli and international law.
The letter further pointed out that a number of international treaty bodies have insisted that Israel renew family visits immediately. The UN Human Rights Committee, which monitors compliance with the International Covenant and Political Rights, stated in July 2010 that Israel “should reinstate the family visit programme supported by the International Committee of the Red Cross for prisoners from the Gaza Strip.”
In its response to Adalah’s letter, IPS claimed that it began examining ways to bring prisoners’ families from the Gaza Strip for visits even before the hunger strike. However, the matter involves many parties including the military, the public prosecutor, the police, and other internal agencies, in addition to external agencies such as the ICRC. The IPS added that despite the complexity of the process, they are considering possible mechanisms and will begin a pilot project soon. To date, family visits have not resumed.
In another letter addressed to the director of Nafha Prison, Markovitch Ezekiel, Adalah demanded cancellation of a decision to prohibit Mrs. Rawiyya Alshanti from visiting her son, Anis Safuri, for an entire year. A Nafha Prison guard informed Mrs. Alshanti orally of this decision at the end of her visit on 30 May 2012. The ban came in the wake of her refusal to submit to a humiliating strip search, which had no legal grounds, when she entered the prison.
Attorney Ayoub argued that the decision is illegal, arbitrary and without any justification. The only way to impose such a ban is through concrete evidence that the visit will harm state security, public safety, or the safety and discipline within the prison. Mr. Safuri is classified by Israel as a “security” prisoner and therefore only allowed to receive visits from first-degree relatives (e.g., parents, siblings, and grandparents). In this case no one except his mother is able to visit him, and therefore prohibiting her visit cuts him off entirely from the outside world, especially as political prisoners are forbidden from using the telephone.
See Adalah Press Release:
Adalah Demands that Israel Prison Service Stop Violent, Invasive Searches of Palestinian Prisoners and their Family Visitors, 11 June 2012
See also Israeli Supreme Court:
See also Israeli Supreme Court:
No Family Visits for Gaza Prisoners in Israeli Prisons, 10 December 2009
And for a critique of the decision:
Greitje Baars, “Palestinian Political Prisoners: Unfair Game for Israel’s Persecution,” Adalah’s Newsletter, Volume 68, January 2010
