GAZA, (Palestine Foundation Information Center), Palestinian detainee Hasan Salama, in a leaked message from Ganot jail, described dire conditions for prisoners held in isolation, citing ongoing raids, suppression, and repeated physical abuse.
In a letter recently published by his fiancée Ghufran Zamel, Salama explained that within less than 10 days, prisoners faced four raid and search operations that included beatings.
Salama added that the prisoners were also assaulted while being transferred from solitary confinement in Megiddo prison to Ganot prison, as well as during every lawyer visit.
According to the prisoner, who is serving 47 life terms, food portions in Ganot’s isolation section are far smaller than those in Megiddo’s isolation, barely sufficient for detainees, leaving them in a state of constant hunger.
Daily yard time in Ganot jail does not exceed one hour per cell in a narrow, sunless courtyard. Jailers also drew a line inside the yard that detainees are forbidden to cross.
Isolated prisoners in the jail cannot communicate with each other. According to the letter, Salama is aware of the presence of detainees Bilal al‑Barghouthi, Muhannad Shreim, Jamal al‑Hur, Marwan al‑Barghouthi, Mahmoud Atallah, and Abbas as‑Sayyed in the prison, but he cannot communicate with them or with other inmates.
Salama’s health continues to deteriorate, as he has suffered from persistent diarrhea for a full year without receiving treatment, and now requires eyeglasses due to his inability to read the holy Qur’an.
Salama also needs a dentist, but the only option offered when he was taken to the prison infirmary was tooth extraction without any treatment, while a doctor comes to the isolation section only once a month and merely passes through quickly without examining any of the detainees.
Prisoner Hasan Salama, from Khan Yunis in Gaza, has been held in Israeli jails since his arrest on May 17, 1996.
