The Palestinian Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs said that the Israeli Occupation Prison Service continues to impose harsh punitive measures against Palestinian child prisoners, no less than the repressive measures taken against adult detainees since the start of its assault on the Gaza Strip.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Commission noted that minors are being held in isolation cells, are doubly isolated, and denied family visits. This is in light of the continued denial of family visits to thousands of Palestinian prisoners.
The Commission added that the Megiddo Prison administration deliberately brings minor detainees for visits with their hands and feet shackled, blindfolded, and their heads covered with black bags.
Only after being placed in the visiting room are the blindfolds removed, their hands are cuffed in a way that makes it difficult for them to hold a phone, while their leg remain cuffed. Despite legal staff’s demands to remove the cuffs during the visit, the prison administration refuses to do so.
Among the measures reported by the Commission’s lawyer following her recent visit is that the prison cells lack the minimum international standards for children’s and prisoners’ rights.
She described the cells as cleanliness, infested with insects, lack adequate ventilation and lighting, and the minors are subjected daily to verbal abuse, beatings, isolation, sexual harassment, and collective punishment.
