Israeli medical watchdog says Palestinian hunger strikers mistreated
Prison Service says Physicians for Human Rights’ criticism is incorrect
Stuart Winer is a breaking news editor at The Times of Israel.
An Israeli medical watchdog organization has condemned the Israel Prison Service’s treatment of Palestinian hunger strikers, claiming it violates medical ethics and international law.
Physicians for Human Rights Israel, a non-government organization, charged that Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike were not given proper medical attention, Israel Radio reported on Thursday.
In a special report prepared ahead of next week’s Palestinian Prisoner Day, PHR-Israel claimed that the Prison Service uses access to medical treatment as a way of applying pressure on prisoners.
PHR-Israel asserted that hunger strikers’ rights to optimal medical attention was consistently disrupted and as a result their health was unnecessarily endangered. The report called on the Health Ministry to place responsibility for providing inmates with medial treatment on an external body.
Israel Radio said that the Prison Service responded that PHR-Israel does not have the resources to conduct an objective assessment of medical practices in prisons and added that the medical treatment given to prisoners is both professional and responsible.
Last month Israel released from prison Ayman Sharawneh, a Palestinian hunger striker who was serving a 38-year-sentence for terror attacks. Sharawneh had been on hunger strike since July 2012 and was released on condition of his confinement in the Gaza Strip. In February two hunger strikers ended their fast after being assured that the Israeli military prosecutor would not seek to extend their detention. Two other prisoners refusing food were transferred to a hospital as their condition deteriorated.
