Hamas: Assault on Ofer prisoners state terrorism

[ 21/12/2008 - 10:03 AM ]

RAMALLAH, (PIC)--

Hamas has charged that the Israeli "Nazi-like" attack on the Palestinian prisoners in Ofer prison constituted a "war crime" and reflected "state terrorism".

Farahat Assad, one of the Hamas leaders in the West Bank, said in a statement on Saturday that the crime and earlier ones against unarmed civilians and MPs, held as hostages in those jails, pose as flagrant violations of the Geneva Convention.

The international community is called upon to prosecute perpetrators of such crimes, he said, calling on the UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon to assume his responsibility towards such systemic crimes, which are war crimes and crimes against humanity, because they threaten international peace and security.

The Hamas leader also called on Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, to prosecute the Israeli criminal officials in accordance with his responsibilities.

Assad called on the Arab media to launch a campaign to pressure the Arab regimes and international institutions to end their silence and shoulder their legal and ethical responsibilities towards the war crimes being committed against the Palestinian people.

For his part, Dr. Ahmed Bahar, the acting PLC speaker, strongly denounced the Israeli assault on Palestinian prisoners in Ofer jail, describing it as "very serious" and a reflection of "Zionist criminality against the Palestinian prisoners".

He urged legal and human rights groups to put an end to the Israeli aggressive practices against Palestinian prisoners and to demand their release.

The prisoners' center for studies warned that Israeli jailers were bearing spiteful grudge against the Palestinian prisoners and were demanding new tough measures in dealing with them

The center warned that lives of Palestinian prisoners were in danger as a result of the jailors' growing hatred.

At least eight Palestinian prisoners were wounded in the Israeli prison guards' assault on two wards in the Ofer jail in which the jailors used gas bombs, rubber bullets, batons and water cannons against the defenseless prisoners, who responded by throwing whatever they had in their possession at the assaulting fully-geared wardens.

Ofer prison guards assault Palestinian prisoners, many injured

[ 20/12/2008 - 03:39 PM ]

RAMALLAH, (PIC)--

Tens of Palestinian prisoners in the Israeli occupation government Ofer prison west of Ramallah were injured or suffered suffocation on Saturday evening after Israeli jailors assaulted them with batons, rubber bullets and gas canisters.

Sources in both Wa'ed society catering for prisoners and ministry of prisoners said that the Israeli Nahshon unit members, specialized in quelling prisoners, also opened water cannons at hundreds of prisoners in wards 5 and 6.

The sources said that the prisoners tried to defend themselves and threw whatever they had in their possession at the soldiers.

The prisoners were confronting a violent search of their wards, the sources said, adding that around 400 prisoners were targeted in the quelling operation.

They said that four Israeli occupation soldiers were hurt in the clash, and noted that the disturbances extended to all other ten wards leading to the burning of a big number of tents as smoke was seen  billowing from the prison compound.

A number of ambulance cars were seen heading to the prison to carry the wounded.

Prisoners told local radio stations and legal societies over the telephone that among those wounded was a number of patients suffering from chronic diseases such as diabetes, asthma and heart ailment.

PLC speaker Dr. Aziz Al-Duwaik and PFLP secretary general Ahmed Sa'adat are among the 1,200 prisoners in Ofer.

Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza, said that the Israeli "brutal attack" on unarmed Palestinian prisoners in Ofer reflected "Zionist terrorism and fanaticism".

He appealed to concerned international organizations to urgently intervene and halt the assaults on Palestinian prisoners and save them from the "Zionist, Nazi prisons".