Arabs Against Discrimination[The Prison Authority abuses Sheikh Raed Salah]

The Prison Authority abuses Sheikh Raed Salah

Source: www.mahsom.com, April 14, 2005

By: Site editors

Head of the Islamist movement, Sheikh Raed Salah, and his colleague, Sheikh Mahmoud Abd al-Latif Mahajna—who are being detained at the Ashmoret prison in Kfar Yona—have complained about the prison administration's humiliating treatment and violation of their rights. When MK Abdulmalik Dehamshe visited Sheikh Raed Salah at the prison last Tuesday, Salah told him that a special police unit—apparently an anti-drug unit that is not affiliated with the prison administration—often enters their cells to carry out searches. Members of the unit tear out parts of the walls, damage their property, and turn everything upside down. He added, “After that, it takes us hours to reorder the prison cell.” The members of the special unit also force them to strip and undergo an intimate body search.

Sheikh Raed Salah is scheduled to be released on July 20. Six months later, Mahmoud Mahajna will also be released, under the terms of the plea agreement concluded a few months ago. The plea was made after the prosecution was forced to retract most of the charges against the leaders and activists of the Islamist movement.

Sheikh Salah also told MK Dehamshe that the prison administration refuses to allow him to bring olive oil into his cell, although the doctor had advised him to use it for medicinal purposes around two months ago. In addition, the prison administration also prohibits vegetables in the cell, shortens the daily exercise time—the right of every prisoner—to one hour instead of two, and has banned the entry of books and daily newspapers, unless they are sent through the mail as part of a personal subscription by the prisoner, which means that the newspapers arrive late.

Reader responses to the article:

The whole thing is about frustration. Nothing came of the hysterical story propagated by the Zionists against the entire Islamist movement. Everyone knows that all the prisoners there were found guilty of crimes they did not commit, but instead of letting the prisoners feel frustrated about being in prison for no reason, the state is the one that is frustrated because it did not manage to get the maximum penalty that it wanted. It is impossible to forget the scene of the 1,000 (at least) armed policemen coming in the dead of night to arrest Raed Salah, who was wearing pajamas and sitting next to his father's deathbed. As usual, they didn't forget to bring the media to record this filth. What bothers them is that they were received with a smile instead of complaints. They weren't prepared to give in, so they're abusing them and exacting their revenge—Zeev.

But the sheikh smiled. We only have to remember how the second intifada began to figure out how Sharon became prime minister. He is the head of the state and its mastermind, who wants to inflame matter and provoke Islam. This is the mind that is looking for reasons to continue to control and kill and humiliate. But the sheikh won and smiled—Saleh.