Islamic Jihad inmates defy Israeli punitive measures: NGO

RAMALLAH, Palestine

Palestinian prisoners of the Islamic Jihad group have protested punitive measures imposed by Israeli authorities since the Sept. 6 jailbreak, according to a Palestinian NGO on Wednesday.

“Islamic Jihad prisoners have refused to line up and go out [of their cells] for security checks,” the Palestinian Prisoner Society said in a statement.

It said Israeli prison guards have responded by handcuffing the prisoners and taking them out of their cells “by force.”

On Sept. 6, six inmates had tunneled out of the maximum-security Gilboa prison. Four of them were re-arrested on Sept. 10-11, while the last two were recaptured on Sept. 18.

Five of the prisoners belonged to the Islamic Jihad movement, and one was a former commander of the Fatah group.

According to the NGO, Israeli prison authorities have imposed a series of punitive measures against the prisoners since the jailbreak, singling out those affiliated with the Islamic Jihad with “double punishments.”

It noted that the prison administration "transferred the majority of Islamic Jihad prisoners from their cells, prevented them from staying together in the same rooms and imposed high fines on them.”

The statement said the prisoners are “still in negotiations with the prison administration to stop these abuses."

There was no comment from Israeli authorities on the report.

There are around 4,850 Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons, including 41 women, 225 children, and 540 “administrative detainees,” according to observers.

*Writing by Ibrahim Mukhtar