Ahmad Sa’adat, the imprisoned Palestinian national leader, and the General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, denounced the continuing procrastination of the occupation prison administration in implementing the terms of the prisoners’ agreement concluded after the battle of empty stomachs for freedom and dignity fought by the prisoners’ movement last April.
The strike ended with an agreement officially signed under Egyptian auspices, but the promises made in that agreement have often been entirely ignored. Sa’adat made his comments to a lawyer from the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society, who visited him in Hadarim prison. He was transferred to collective isolation in Hadarim prison from Shata prison suddenly following his appearance and refusal to testify in a Jerusalem occupation court. At the same time, the occupation removed his comrade and fellow leader of the Front, Ahed Abu Ghoulmeh, from Hadarim prison and transferred him to Shata prison.
Sa’adat said that this was a deliberate objective to keep prisoners who were in isolation sections separate, prevent them from meeting and discussing their life in prison, saying that these transfers are done in order to further uproot prisoners’ lives on a daily basis.
He expressed the anger and indignation of the prisoners due to the continuing issues and the refusal of the prison administration to comply with the agreement. Sa’adat said that the first and foremost part of the agreement was to end isolation, but the occupation continues to isolate Palestinian prisoners Awad al-Saidi and Dirar Abu Sisi.
Furthermore, Sa’adat said that the prison authorities regularly refuse to respond to issues and ignore agreements, for example in the case of Hassan Safadi who was supposed to be released at the completion of his administrative detention in June, however, his detention was instead extended. He also noted that family visits for prisoners from the West Bank and from Gaza continue to be denied on the basis of “security issues.”
Sa’adat said “The prison authority is still procrastinating and refusing to commit to implementing the agreement on higher and secondary education and many other issues. These require follow up and all options are open before the prisoners, because the prisoners’ strike did not come for 28 days in order to achieve the current situation.”
