LAW expresses its serious concern regarding the conditions Palestinian prisoners are living under in Israeli prisons, which according to prisoner reports, has reached at critical conditions. One prisoner has told LAW of being tortured, 6 girl-children are in prison and a series of protest activities, including a hunger strike is threatened, if the al- Ramle prison administration keeps refusing their repeated requests to improve their living conditions, as reported by LAW's lawyer. Allegations of torture LAW's lawyer Mahmoud Jabarin yesterday (Wednesday October 30) visited the Moscobiyya compound in West Jerusalem, meeting Ibrahim Barham (19), from Nablus, imprisoned since September 24, 2002. Barham told LAW that during interrogations, he has been tortured. He was forced to sit on a 'shabeh' (a chair which forces the back to lean forward at a 45-degree-angle, causing extreme back pain. It can cause prisoners to also become unconscious) for two days continuously. Six interrogators also beat him all over his body, focusing on his back and nose. Barham continues to suffer extreme pain in different parts of his body, particularly his nose. He also told LAW that he was threatened by interrogators, that if he does not confess to his accused crimes they will cause him to have a stroke or paralysis. Barham was also denied food and water for two days. Women Prisoners Yesterday Wednesday 30, LAW's lawyer Fahmi Shkeirat met Palestinian women prisoners in al-Ramle Prison. Three prisoners, Aminah Manni from Jerusalem, Nisrin Abu Zeina from Tulkarem, Ibtisam al-Isawiyeh from Jerusalem said that the prison administration keeps denying their basic rights, and that their living conditions remain extremely bad. They also told LAW that there are 46 female prisoners in al-Ramleh, and 6 of them are under-age. They are: Rabia Hamayyel (14), from Nablus Fidaa Ghanem, (14), from Hebron Aisheh Abayyat (15), from Bethlehem Zaynab al-Shouli (15), from Bethlehem Nisrin Abu Zeineh (17) from Tulkarem Asma Hussein (17) from Bethlehem Threats of a Hunger Strike In the same prison. LAW's lawyer met with Nafiz al-Gharouf from Ramallah, imprisoned since July 11, 2002. He had been in solidarity confinement for two days after protesting against his bad treatment and medical negligence after approaching the medical center for pain in his foot. Shkeirat also met with a number of prisoners who said that there are 127 prisoners divided among 16 rooms. In each room there are 8 prisoners. Prisoners also said that the administration had been working to open a new section which appears to be deprived of all basic conditions. They also told Shkeirat that the prison administration is still treating prisoners extremely badly, and continues to undertake sudden searches which humiliate and debase prisoners. The prisoners explained that if the administration does not improve their conditions, they shall began a series of protest activities, including a hunger strike. Around 2,300 Palestinians are currently in Israeli detention. According to LAW' estimates that during this Intifada, over 24,000 Palestinians have been detained by Israel. Detentions have ranged from hours to months to years. Extremely poor prison conditions and tales of torture are not new. On Sunday, October 20, LAW put forward a complaint to the police investigations section at the Israeli Ministry of Justice on behalf of a Palestinian prisoner who was beaten by an Israeli nurse, a police officer and several others, while his hands were restrained with handcuffs and his feet with leg cuffs. On October 9, 2002, LAW noted that Palestinian detainees at Ofer detention center in Betunia, live under severe detention conditions including lack of garments, coming into winter. The detainees are forced to live in tents that do not protect against rain or cold conditions. According to LAW's lawyer, many wounded Palestinian detainees have not received appropriate medical treatment. In the Ofer detention center, LAW's lawyer was told that 22-25 detainees are forced to live in four tents, and complained of daily humiliation and bad quality food. On August 6, Palestinian women prisoners went on a hunger strike after deteriorating living conditions and extremely bad treatment, with one prisoner describing how waste-water flooded into prison cells on Monday, July 29, prison guards assaulting female prisoners with teargas grenades, and then transferring some of the women to different prisons. Prison authorities then placed a number of Palestinian female prisoners in solitary confinement as a punitive measure for protesting the transfer of the three female prisoners. Subsequently, the Palestinian female prisoners began a hunger strike. In the same way that Israel is accountable under international law for preventing torture and ill- treatment, it is also required to uphold prisoners' privacy rights as codified in article 17 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The Fourth Geneva Convention clearly prohibits the transfer of Palestinian detainees from the Occupied Palestinian Territories to Israel. Article 76 states that 'Protected persons accused of offences shall be detained in the occupied country, and if convicted they shall serve their sentences therein'. Israel's treatment of Palestinian detainees does not meet the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, the Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons Under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment, and the Basic Principles for the Treatment of Prisoners. These instruments are binding on Israel to the extent that the norms set out in them explicate the broader standards contained in human rights treaties. LAW further calls on the Israeli government to ensure that the rights of detainees are protected in accordance with international human rights and humanitarian law. The failure of the Israeli authorities to ensure that detainees receive adequate medical care violates article 91 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which guarantees the right of detainees to obtain the medical attention they require: detainees suffering from serious diseases, or whose situation requires special care, surgery, or hospital facilities, must be referred to a proper institution to receive the necessary care 'not inferior to that provided for the general population'. These rights are also affirmed by principles 24, 25, and 26 of the UN Body of Principles and article 22 of the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners. LAW emphasizes principle 1 of the UN Principles of Medical Ethics, which provides that medical personnel have a duty to protect the 'physical and mental health' of prisoners and detainees and provide them with 'the same quality and standard of treatment as is afforded to those who are not ... detained' and principle 2 which states that 'it is a gross contravention of medical ethics ... for health personnel, particularly physicians, to engage actively or passively in acts which constitute ... complicity in ... cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.' LAW is gravely concerned about the fate of thousands of Palestinian prisoners who are still in custody, without charge or trial, often under administrative detention orders that may be renewed indefinitely. LAW further calls on the Israeli government to ensure that the rights of detainees are protected in accordance with international human rights and humanitarian law.