Tag: detainees

Report: Israeli interrogators torture Palestinians

Posted on By 3arabawy

From AP…

Israeli interrogators frequently beat Palestinian suspects, shackle them in painful positions and deprive them of sleep, defying a 1999 court ruling outlawing torture, two Israeli human rights groups said Sunday.
One Palestinian said his captors made him arch his back over a bench with his hands and legs joined in what prisoners commonly call “the banana position,” according to a report released by B’Tselem and The Center for the Defense of the Individual.
“They brought a chain and used it to hook together the handcuffs and leg shackles. The way this made my body stretch was unbearable,” said the man, identified as A.Z., 29. “Then the interrogators lifted the bench from both ends and dropped it suddenly. At that point I lost consciousness.”

Interior Ministry to compensate former Islamist detainees

Posted on By 3arabawy

From the Daily Star Egypt…

The Ministry of Interior has finally agreed to release the required financial compensation to the freed former Islamist detainees who have court orders indicating their right to financial compensation, Al-Masry Al-Youm reported.
“Those ex-prisoners are getting compensation for spending more than 15 years in jail without trial,” Diaa Rashwan, a political expert on Islamic movements at Al Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies told The Daily Star Egypt.
The Ministry of Interior, after suspending the payment for around five years, is expected to hand out between LE 15,000 to LE 30,000 for every detainee.
There are more than 15,000 ex-detainees who have court orders proving their right to financial compensation, reported Al-Masry Al-Youm.
But the ministry did not announce the exact number of ex-detainees who will be allowed to receive their compensation.
Rashwan also indicated that he personally knows some of the ex-prisoners and said that some of them “were jailed when they were 16 and came out when they were 32 years old.”
“And in some other cases, they received more than 30 not guilty verdicts and were set free then were arrested once more under emergency law,” Rashwan said.

Palestinian protesters storm Egyptian diplomatic mission in Gaza

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From AP…

Angry demonstrators rushed into the Egyptian Embassy in Gaza City on Monday, demanding that Egypt release five Palestinian men in Cairo jails.
The outburst underlined tensions over Egyptian mediation efforts with Israel.
Palestinian security forces fired above a crowd of protesters to force them out of the embassy, said security official Ali Qaisi. Protesters said they tried to block an Egyptian official’s car, demanding he speak to the crowd.
When security guards pushed them back, they ran onto embassy grounds.
The Gaza protesters were demanding Egypt release five Palestinian men they say have been imprisoned for three years without charge, after they illegally entered Egypt seeking medical treatment. The prisoners are affiliated with the Islamic Hamas.
“We’ve got no other way of releasing our men,” said Iman Humeidi, 26, wife of an imprisoned Palestinian.