Lawyers for two of the Palestinian prisoners who managed to escape Israeli prison on September 6, on Wednesday, confirmed that the escapees have suffered torture at the hands of the Israeli forces, the Associated Press (AP) has revealed.
For the first time, since they were captured, on September 11, lawyers were permitted to interview two of the detainees.
Attorney with the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society (PPS) Raslan Mahajna, met with political prisoner Mahmoud al-‘Arda, one of the six Palestinians who escaped from Israeli prison, who informed him of the harsh details of interrogation and the systematic denial of basic human needs.
Israeli human rights lawyer, Avigdor Feldman, told AP that his client, Zakariyya Zobeidi, said that security forces handcuffed him, asked him his name, and when he stated “Zakariyya”, they proceeded to brutally assault him, causing him two rib fractures and a fractured jaw.
Feldman added;
“They didn’t have any intention to commit any kind of terrorist attack.”
On September 12, one day after his capture, the health condition of Zobeidi, 46, deteriorated, so he was transferred to Rambam Medical Center in Haifa for medical treatment, according to Hasan Abed Rabbo, the spokesperson for the Palestinian Detainees Affairs Commission.
~ AP, WAFA
