“We are always frisked every time we get out of our cells, even if we do this for ten times a day,” Salah

By Samer Khuwayera, IOL Correspondent

GAZA, October 30 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – With six times of frisking a day and banning the weekly prayers, the leader of Islamic Movement in the 1948-occupied Palestinian territories, known as Israeli Arab areas, complained against tough and humiliating conditions under the Israeli detention.

“They turned down our request not to keep us shackled all the time, when we are moving to the clinic or the lunge for meeting our families every week,” said Raed Salah of his Jalama detention camp.

A high-profile detainee, omens do not bode well for Salah, or other Palestinian detainees, estimated at 8,000.

“I was prevented from seeing my newborn two weeks ago, even just for a few minutes,” Salah lamented in a letter sent to his Al-Aqsa Institution for Islamic Sacred Sites a copy of which was obtained by IslamOnline.net.

The lawyer presented a written request to the detention authorities to see his baby, which was fully refused.

“They always mumble words about respect to human rights and democratic values. But that’ll be the day,” said the Islamic leader skeptically.

He and other detainees were denied access to religious books and Qur’an tapes, or Arab papers “to keep in touch with the Palestinian and Arab society outside”.

They wrote another request for the books and the tapes, to be accepted a few days later.

“But two months now, we have gotten only one book and one tape inside, they always live up to their promises,” he said.

Calling for halal food for the Muslim detainees in the camp was also ignored.

No Prayers

Salah said in the letter that the detention administration rejected another appeal for detainees to perform the Friday congregation prayers.

“They said we could make the prayers from 10.30 to 11.30 o’clock, just before their original time,” read the letter.

Salah said Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is closely following his file.

“In my cell, there are always search campaigns for cell phones, recording tapes, more than once a day,” he said.

“We are always frisked every time we get out of our cells, even if we do this for ten times a day,” said Salah.

Salah, and 13 members of the Islamic Movement, were detained by Israeli occupation authorities on May 5, allegedly for money laundering for Hamas.

The resistance group denied the accusations, but the Israeli Central Court decided to extend Salah’s detention for nine months others.

Human rights watchdog Amnesty International said in a report released Wednesday, June 26, 2002, that Israel is breaking the Geneva convention and abusing human rights by punishing Palestinians with indiscriminate security measures.

"Unlawful killings of Palestinians continue as a result of the virtually complete impunity offered to Israeli soldiers who kill Palestinians," read part of the report.