Israel playing with life of Palestinian prisoners: Academic

Press TV has interviewed Saeed Nimer, professor of Political Science at the Birzeit University from Ramallah, on the health condition of Palestinian inmate Mohammed al-Qiq after 65 days of hunger strike in an Israeli jail.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: I like to get your opinion on the condition of al-Qiq and why Israel would refuse an independent doctor from seeing him?

Nimer: As a matter of fact, it’s not the first time that the Israelis do not allow an international independent committee to come and to examine the situation inside the Israeli prisons, where the Palestinians are held.

It is many times that the Israelis refuse and reject European Union and parliament members as well as lawyers and doctors.

Now, in the case of al-Qiq, it is very critical, because we know al-Qiq is under administrative arrest, as you said, which means that there is no interrogation, no charges and no trial.  

It’s just he’s being held there, because they think he might have done something in the past or he might do something in the future, but they don’t have no proof of that. So, they can hold him for six months which is renewable for another six months and so on.

Al-Qiq went into hunger strike, and he is a journalist, because he believes that he did nothing at all and he demand either to be trialed or to be released immediately.

Now, on the hunger strike and all the journalists in Palestine as well as the Palestinian Authority and the prisoners affairs, they are making huge publicity about the al-Qiq issue. Now Israelis are refusing these doctors to come and visit al-Qiq and to assess his situation.

Yesterday, there was a high court for al-Qiq, which they postponed it. We see that this postponement is a matter of passing a death sentence on him, because they are delaying his release or delaying to deal with his case.

Press TV: It also bring us back to the plight of other Palestinians who are in Israeli jails without charge or trial.

Nimer: Yes, as a matter of fact now we have more than 500 Palestinians who are held under this “administrative arrest” which is originally a British mandatory law in 1945.

And we know that all international organizations of human rights are condemning this law in Israel but the Israelis are insisting on continuing to pass it on the Palestinians by arresting them without charges.

More than 500 and we have witnessed so many Palestinians who went into hunger strikes like Khader Adnan and Issawi and Halahli lots of Palestinians who were very people became aware of their cases since they were under administrative arrest and they went into hunger strike.

And we believe that al-Qiq is also yet another prisoner who is going into hunger strike against this unjust law and unlawful, as a matter of fact, which is conducted by Israeli authorities.

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