Prisoner Qadri subjected to daily checks, poor isolation conditions

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Al Mayadeen
28 May 2023 16:17
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Muhjat Al-Quds Foundation calls on international, human rights, and humanitarian institutions to put pressure on Israeli authorities to provide health care and treatment to prisoner Yaqoub Qadri.

Palestinian prisoner Yaqoub Qadri

The Palestinian Muhjat Al-Quds Foundation confirmed on Sunday that prisoner Yaqoub Qadri, under solitary confinement, is subjected by Israeli occupation authorities to daily inspections, continuous harassment, and poor conditions in "Ramon" Prison.

In a letter, a copy of which was received by the Foundation, Qadri indicated that he is under a continuous attack in the prison, where he is subjected to day and night inspections, adding that repression units of the Israeli occupation prisons authority storm his room every three days.

Muhjat Al-Quds said Qadri is monitored every 20 minutes by an Israeli jailer to check whether he is in his room, adding that he was also prevented from going to the prison clinic, and all medical treatments he used to receive were stopped.

Even during his lawyer’s visit to him, the prisoner remains handcuffed, the Foundation added, noting that Qadri is not aware of the reasons behind the occupation's continuous harassment.

Muhjat Al-Quds highlighted that the Palestinian prisoner had suffered from difficult health conditions since the beginning of 2022. Qadri was transferred to "Soroka Hospital" in the occupied city of Beer Al-Sabe' and underwent a CT scan after experiencing continuous pain in his shoulder, right hand, neck, and ear.

In late June 2022, Qadri was informed in the "Ohalei Keidar" prison clinic that he suffers from a tumor in the thyroid gland and that he needed to undergo a biopsy to find out whether the tumor was malignant or benign. Therefore, and after many requests, he was transferred in early October 2022 to "Barzlai" Hospital in Askalan to perform the biopsy.

In mid-February 2023, the "Ramon" prison clinic doctor officially informed Qadri that the result of the CT scan showed that he had benign cancer in the thyroid gland and that half of the gland must be extracted through surgery, without specifying a specific date.

Muhjat Al-Quds Foundation renewed its call for the international, human rights and humanitarian institutions, especially the International Committee of the Red Cross and the United Nations Human Rights Council, to stand up to their legal, moral, and humanitarian responsibilities to put pressure on the occupation authorities and oblige them to provide urgent and immediate health care and treatment to the prisoner.

The Foundation also demanded exposing to public opinion the practices of the Israeli occupation forces and revealing its crimes against ill prisoners and those subjected to solitary confinement.

It also called for prosecuting Israeli occupation officials at the International Criminal Court and working on everything that would expose the crimes of the Israeli occupation and curb brutal attacks against detainees.

Prisoner Yaqoub Qadri, from the village of Bir Al-Basha, in the Jenin governorate in the northern West Bank, was born in 1972. He was arrested by the Israeli occupation forces on October 18, 2003, and the Israeli court sentenced him to life imprisonment twice, plus 35 years. His charges were "belonging to and being a member of Saraya Al-Quds (Al-Quds Brigades) - the military wing of the Islamic Jihad movement, and participating in operations against the occupation forces."

On September 6, 2021, Qadri was one of six prisoners who broke out of Gilboa Prison in a heroic operation named Freedom Tunnel that shook the Israeli occupation's trust in its security system to the core.

The so-called Al-Nasirah Court issued a five-year prison sentence, in addition to a fine of 5,000 shekels, on the six prisoners who carried out the heroic operation.

The court also issued a four-year prison sentence and a fine of 2,000 shekels to the five prisoners who aided them in digging the tunnel.

It is noteworthy that every three months, the Israeli occupation prisons authority transfers Operation Freedom Tunnel prisoners and others who aided them from one solitary confinement into another.