Palestinian political prisoners in Megiddo prison protested after the death of Hassan al-Turabi, meeting with major repression, said Heba Masalha, Palestinina laywer. In the morning of November 5 and with news of Turabi’s death, prisoners banged on the walls, threw shoes, and expressed anger for the loses of their comrade.
Mohammed Abu Jaber, held in Megiddo, told Masalha that armed special forces entered the prison and clashed with the prisoners who responded by throwing shoes in their direction. Over 100 armed security forces entered the prison, releasing tear gas and accompanied by dogs, pushing the prisoners to the wall, tying their hands, beating them with batons and rifle butts, and returning them to their cells, and then beginning provocative inspections, wreaking havoc in the prisoners’ cells.
8 prisoners were placed in solitary cells; these 8 people were also beaten by police with hands and batons. Section 5 in Megiddo has been hit with a series of collective punishments: removal of electrical appliances, closure of the canteen and preventing the purchase of alternate food, ending daily exercise. Mohammad al-Atrash, another prisoner, told Masalha that prisoners returned meals for 3 days in protest at the sanctions against Section 5, which contains 120 prisoners, and that the situation remains tense inside the prison.
Repression also took place in Eshel prison following Turabi’s death, where prisoners also protested. Prisoners in Eshel were denied exercise in the yard, sections of the prison were closed and prisoners moved, and they were threatened with denial of family visits. Prisoners in Eshel returned their meals on Tuesday and Wednesday in protest, and in Ramon prison, prisoners returned their meals for three days, while prisoners in Ramle prison clinic returned their meals on Thursday; prisoners in Negev prison declared three days of morning, while prisoner in Ofer returned meals for one day.
