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For Immediate Release
September, 06 2012, 12:44pm EDT
Contact:
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7413 5566,After hours: +44 7778 472 126,Email:,press@amnesty.org
Israel Must Hospitalize or Release Palestinian Hunger Striker on Verge of Death
The Israeli authorities must release or admit to hospital Palestinian hunger striker Samer al-Barq, who has been held without charge or trial since July 2010, Amnesty International said.
Samer al-Barq, 37, who is currently held in the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) medical centre in Ramleh prison, has been on hunger strike since 15 April this year apart from eight days in mid-May - a total of 139 days.
WASHINGTON
The Israeli authorities must release or admit to hospital Palestinian hunger striker Samer al-Barq, who has been held without charge or trial since July 2010, Amnesty International said.
Samer al-Barq, 37, who is currently held in the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) medical centre in Ramleh prison, has been on hunger strike since 15 April this year apart from eight days in mid-May - a total of 139 days.
"Samer al-Barq, who has never been charged with any offence, is on the verge of death in prison and must be released immediately if he is not to be charged and fairly tried. At the very least he must urgently be admitted to a civilian hospital," said Ann Harrison, Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa Deputy Director.
"He urgently needs specialised medical care that can only be administered in a civilian hospital and must therefore be admitted to one by the prison authorities, or released so that he can seek the medical care he needs himself."
Samer al-Barq's lawyer said Samer is on a drip, but has not received or been told he will receive the specialised medical treatment he requires.
Prior to his transfer to Assaf Harofeh public hospital on 27 August for two days, he was suffering from liver problems and had a low pulse rate and low blood pressure.
An initial judicial review was held at the hospital on 28 August. According to the lawyer who was present there, Samer Barq was shackled to his hospital bed.
The lawyer said that, during the review, Samer had great difficulty in speaking and was probably not even fully aware of his surroundings during the proceedings, which have been postponed to 6 September.
He was returned to the IPS medical centre the next day and held in an isolation cell along with fellow administrative detainee Hassan Safadi, whose life is also in grave danger as a result of his second hunger strike which he began on 21 June.
"Israel's denial of proper access to medical treatment for someone as close to death as Samer al-Barq - and their shackling of him in his hospital bed - amounts to inhuman and degrading treatment in violation of Israel's international human rights obligations," said Ann Harrison.
According to a lawyer who visited the medical clinic on 30 August, al-Barq was too weak to meet him and could not get out of bed.
The IPS has granted permission for local NGO Physicians for Human Rights - Israel to visit al-Barq and other hunger strikers on Monday 10 September, but it is feared that may be too late.
Samer al-Barq originally staged a hunger strike for 30 days earlier this year, ending it on 14 May.
But he resumed it eight days later on 22 May after his detention order was renewed yet again.
Background:
According to al-Barq's brother, Samir Helmi al-Barq, Samer left Jordan in 1996 and went to study in Pakistan where he received a Masters degree in Science.
But he was arrested by the Pakistani authorities on 15 July 2003 and held for 14 days after applying to study for a PhD in Islamic Studies in Islamabad.
Al-Barq does not know the reason for his arrest.
He was then handed over to the US authorities and kept for an additional three months in a secret prison in an unknown location outside Pakistan.
He alleged, in a private statement received by Amnesty International, that he "suffered numerous forms of inhumane torture during that period".
Al-Barq said he was handed over to the Jordanian authorities on 26 October 2003, who kept him in detention for over four years, without charging him or telling him why he was being held.
He said he "was tortured physically and mentally" and "hidden from human rights groups, [and not] allowed to contact [his] family".
After being transferred several times between prisons, he was released on bail in January 2008.
The Jordanian authorities arrested him again in April 2010 and handed him over to the Israeli authorities three months later.
Amnesty International is a worldwide movement of people who campaign for internationally recognized human rights for all. Our supporters are outraged by human rights abuses but inspired by hope for a better world - so we work to improve human rights through campaigning and international solidarity. We have more than 2.2 million members and subscribers in more than 150 countries and regions and we coordinate this support to act for justice on a wide range of issues.
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"All records of dead and injured have been confiscated by authorities," said one doctor. "We are not allowed to talk. Senior government officials are visiting the hospital to hide the records."
Nov 27, 2024
The Guardianreported Wednesday that at least 17 civilians in Pakistan were killed and hundreds more were wounded by army and paramilitary gunfire at protesters and one doctor in Islamabad claimed that authorities were attempting to cover up deaths.
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The newspaper noted that its reporter "witnessed at least five patients with bullet wounds in one hospital, which was surrounded by police."
"Yet again, protestors in Pakistan have faced a brutal and lethal crackdown shrouded in a callous opacity by the authorities."
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The office of Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said in a statement that "as of now, no death has been reported, and the claims circulating regarding any such incidents are baseless and unverified."
According to Reuters:
Visiting protest sites on Wednesday, Naqvi said law enforcement agencies had successfully cleared protesters from the site of the sit-in and other areas of the capital.
He called on PTI to provide any evidence of the firing of live ammunition by security forces, and said it had not provided any details of deaths of its supporters.
PTI said on social media Tuesday that "a massacre has unfolded in Pakistan at the hands of security forces under the brutal, fascist military regime led by the Shehbaz-Zardari-Asim alliance. The nation is drowning in blood. Today, armed security forces launched a violent assault on peaceful PTI protesters in Islamabad, firing live rounds with the intent to kill as many people as possible."
On Wednesday, PTI highlighted The Guardian's reporting—calling it "alarming"—and shared an image of protesters that the party said are "confirmed dead as a result of direct firing by security forces."
Multiple U.S. lawmakers have condemned the crackdown on PTI protesters in Pakistan. Congressman Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), who has spoken out multiple times this week, took note of The Guardian's reporting on Wednesday.
"Horrified by reports of an attempted cover-up of the alleged killings of peaceful protesters by Asim Munir's regime in Pakistan," Khanna said, referring to Pakistan's chief of the army staff. "The U.S. must impose visa bans and asset freezes on senior officials in the military regime."
Drop Site News journalist Murtaza Hussain explained that "visa bans and asset freezes on Pakistani officials would be [a] nuclear event," because "everyone knows their assets are all in Western countries where they also spend all their free time."
Amnesty International, which on Tuesday demanded that the government rescind the shoot-on-site orders and "exercise maximum restraint" in response to protests, issued a Wednesday statement calling for an urgent and transparent investigation.
"Yet again, protestors in Pakistan have faced a brutal and lethal crackdown shrouded in a callous opacity by the authorities," said Babu Ram Pant, Amnesty's deputy regional director for South Asia. "The escalation of violence, shutdown of mobile internet services, mass detentions, and alarming rhetoric against PTI protesters by the authorities speaks of a pattern of intolerance for the right to freedom of peaceful assembly throughout the country. Similar clampdowns against Baloch and Pashtun protesters were witnessed earlier this year."
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"Amnesty International calls for a prompt, thorough, impartial, effective, and transparent investigation into the deaths and injuries of protesters as well as the unlawful use of force including lethal and less-lethal weapons by security personnel," he added. "Authorities must also immediately release all protesters detained solely for exercising their right to freedom of peaceful assembly."
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Just hours after a
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"If these reports are true, it's heartbreakingly devastating news," said Amnesty International USA. "These are the weapons that our research has shown were used to wipe out entire families, without any discernable military objective."
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The Institute for Middle East Understanding Policy Project declared Wednesday that "President Biden is spending the final days of his presidency going against the will of most Americans, U.S. law, and international law."
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In a speech to Israelis on Tuesday, Netanyahu said that one of the reasons for the cease-fire in Lebanon "is to give our forces a breather and replenish stocks. And I say it openly, it is no secret that there have been big delays in weapons and munitions deliveries. These delays will be resolved soon. We will receive supplies of advanced weaponry that will keep our soldiers safe and give us more strike force to complete our mission."
According to the Financial Times:
U.S. officials have denied there is any explicit link between the cease-fire deal and approval for the latest weapons delivery. While the cease-fire deal includes a so-called side letter from the U.S. to Israel, setting out Washington's support for a certain freedom of Israeli action, people familiar with the text said it included no guarantees of weapon sales.
U.S. officials also deny that there have been deliberate delays to weapons shipments, aside from shipments of 2,000-pound bombs, which Biden paused earlier this year over concerns about their use in densely populated areas of Gaza.
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"There is no military necessity or justification under international law that permits the prevention of basic necessities from reaching a civilian population."
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As millions prepared to celebrate Thanksgiving in the United States on Wednesday, human rights advocates provided dispatches from nearly 6,000 miles away in Gaza, where the Biden administration has continued to provide political and military support for Israel's onslaught despite public disapproval for the war among Americans.
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"Israel's continuous and severe deprivation of the fundamental necessities of life is an act of genocide, as it seeks to strip the Palestinian population of the most basic means of protection, with the aim of physically erasing their existence," said the group. "Children and other vulnerable groups are specifically targeted by Israel as they are more affected by this deprivation, which exacerbates their suffering and raises the death rates among them; due to the lack of refuge from winter weather, these rates will undoubtedly spike without international intervention."
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) warned Wednesday that severe food shortages are also set to worsen without immediate international intervention and a cease-fire.
The groups' warnings come two weeks after the passing of a U.S.-imposed deadline for Israel to significantly ramp up humanitarian aid deliveries to Gaza. The Biden administration in October ordered Israel to allow at least 350 aid trucks into Gaza per day, or else it would invoke U.S. laws that prohibit the government from providing military aid to countries that block U.S. humanitarian relief.
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"The war in Gaza is a war on children," said Jeremy Stoner, regional director of Save the Children. "There is no plainer way to illustrate this than to look at the people who make up the death figures—over 4 in every 10 people verified killed in Gaza are children."
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