What Fate Awaits The Rearrested Palestinian Prisoners?

The four recaptured Palestinian prisoners – who broke out of an Israeli prison last week – are likely to face additional prison time and harsh punitive measures, consistent with lawyers.

The four prisoners appeared separately on Saturday before the Israeli Magistrate Court in Nazareth, which decided to increase their detention until September 19 to “complete the investigation”, consistent with a press release from thePalestinian Authority’s (PA) Commission of Detainees Affairs.

Israeli authorities announced the rearrest of Mahmoud Abdullah al-Ardah, 46, and Yaqoub Mahmoud Qadri, 49, on the southern outskirts of Nazareth late on Friday. Zakaria Zubeidi, 46 and Mohammad al-Ardah, 39, were arrested nearby early Saturday, within the Palestinian village of Shibli-Umm al-Ghanam.

They were among six men – along side Ayham Nayef Kamanji, 35, and Munadel Infaat, 26, whose whereabouts remain unknown – who broke out of Israel’s Gilboa prison at dawn on September 6.

The prisoners had uncovered some extent in their cell’s toilet that led to an underground cavity where they dug a tunnel that opened a couple of metres beyond the prison wall.

Israeli forces launched a huge manhunt to look for the six men, finding the primary pair five days later.

At the court hearing on Saturday, consistent with the PA Commission, several initial charges were presented against the four: “Escape, aiding and abetting in an escape, conspiracy to commit an attack, and membership during a hostile organisation and providing services thereto .”

Khaled Mahajneh, the lawyer for several of the prisoners on behalf of the Commission, said authorities refused to supply information about the “conspiring to commit an attack” allegation.

“I asked the interrogation officer in court what they’re basing this claim on, but we got no answers. They said it’s a secret file. we’ve no idea where that claim came from, or what it’s to try to to with the shake prison,” he told Al Jazeera.

Trial proceedings could last a minimum of a year, said Mahajneh. While a politician indictment has not yet been presented, he said his team expects the prisoners could face a further four to 5 years on their sentences supported the initial charges.

Before breaking out of the prison, four of the six prisoners had been serving life sentences, while two were being held in detention awaiting military trial. Those sentenced were arrested between 1996 and 2006 and had been convicted of completing attacks against Israeli military and civilian targets. Five of them are affiliated with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group, while one may be a senior member of the armed wing of Fatah, a Palestinian group that dominates the PA.

Under law of nations , a prisoner of war who escapes from prison “shall be liable only to a disciplinary punishment”, meaning that no additional years should be added to their initial sentence, albeit it’s a repeated attempt.

In previous incidents where Palestinian prisoners escaped from Israeli prisons and were rearrested, several faced punitive measures like long periods in solitary but didn’t receive longer sentences, consistent with lawyers.

On Saturday, a spokesman for Hamas, the Palestinian group that governs the besieged Gaza Strip , said during a televised statement it might place the six prisoners at the highest of any future prisoner exchange affect Israel.

The four prisoners are being held at the Jalama Interrogation Facility near Haifa and, consistent with their lawyers, have undergone interrogation by the Israeli intelligence services and therefore the Lahav 443 unit of the police. The interrogation could last for up to 45 days, lawyers said, during which era they’re going to remain at the Jalama facility.

The prisoners are banned from accessing their lawyers under an order from the Israeli intelligence services effective until September 14 and certain to be renewed, consistent with Mahajneh. thanks to the ban, the lawyers haven’t been ready to speak to the prisoners and have little information about the character of the interrogations and potential violations being administered against the prisoners.
In similar high-profile cases that Israel has classified as security-related, detainees are often denied access to a lawyer for up to 21 days. The prisoners’ lawyers have submitted an appeal against the ban which will be heard in court on Monday.

Mahajneh said the knowledge blackout and therefore the lack of restrictions on interrogators is cause for worry. “I think the intelligence services will do everything – all that they need and haven’t done before – to get information from the prisoners.”

He said authorities are expected to be using “ugly tactics” including long interrogations that exceed 20 consecutive hours, sleep deprivation, providing them with insufficient, bad quality food, also as physical assault and torture.

While the Israeli Supreme Court outlawed the utilization of torture in 1999, interroga

particularly the intelligence services – have continued to use violence against Palestinian detainees, which courts have retroactively sanctioned.
Zubaidi, one among the prisoners, appeared in court with severe bruising on his face. consistent with local media, Israeli forces beat him during his arrest, and he was transferred to a hospital early Sunday for treatment.

Punitive measures
Mahajneh said he expects Israeli prison authorities to put the re-arrested prisoners in solitary cells within the country’s southern prisons, where detention conditions are notoriously harder during the summer and winter seasons due to the shortage of ventilation and heating.

Sahar Francis, a lawyer and director of the Ramallah-based Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, told Al Jazeera she expects the prisoners are going to be put in total solitary , including a ban on family visits and restrictions on lawyer access.

Francis said Palestinian prisoners are usually allowed between three to four hours within the prison yard during the day but expects the prisoners will “only be allowed one hour each day within the yard, and that they are going to be alone”.

“They won’t be allowed to combine with the opposite prisoners. They’ll be completely isolated from the planet . they’ll get a visit from their lawyer or from a Red Cross representative, but that’s it,” said Francis.

She added the prisoners will have their legs shackled, and possibly their hands too, during their hour within the yard.

Khaled Zabarqa, a lawyer and human rights defender who represents Palestinian political prisoners, described solitary as “the most difficult punishment which will be imposed on a prisoner”.

He told Al Jazeera he believes Israeli forces are likely to launch an arrest campaign within the coming weeks against individuals suspected of getting aided the prisoners.