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Israel must respect the human rights of Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons and open an investigation into the death of Saadia Farajallah

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oPt
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Al Mezan
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Al Mezan Center for Human Rights is deeply concerned about Israel’s continuous disregard of international humanitarian and human rights law. Under the Fourth Geneva Convention, Israel is responsible for the lives of all Palestinian detainees held in its custody and must take all necessary and sufficient measures to protect their health. Based on available information, Palestinian detainee Saadia Salim Farajallah, 64, a resident of the West Bank city of Hebron, died after losing consciousness in the Israeli prison ‘Damon’ due to medical negligence by the Israel Prison Service (IPS) against Palestinian prisoners. Farajallah was arrested on 18 December 2021, near the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron.

According to data released by Palestinian human rights organizations and other relevant institutions, as of the end of May 2022, there were 4,700 Palestinian detainees—including 32 women and 170 children—held in IPS facilities. 640 are treated as administrative detainees, including two women and a child.

Al Mezan strongly condemns Israel’s arbitrary detention policy, particularly the use and abuse of administrative detention, and calls for an investigation into the circumstances of Farajallah's death, as well as for the delivery of adequate health care to Palestinian prisoners and detainees in Israeli prisons and an end to the policy of medical neglect.

Al Mezan further calls on the international community to uphold its moral and legal obligations vis-a-vis the protected Palestinian people and exert pressure on Israel, the occupying power, to respect the international legal standards related to the protection of persons deprived of their liberty and to stop its policy of arbitrary detention.