ULY 16, 2012
Palestinian prisoner Akram Rikhawi’s life is in grave danger. He has been on hunger strike and is being held in an Israeli prison clinic which cannot provide the specialist care he needs.
TAKE ACTION(pdf):
URGENT
ACTION
HEALTH
FEARS FOR PALESTINIAN HUNGER STRIKER
Palestinian
prisoner Akram Rikhawi’s life is in grave danger. He has been on hunger strike
since 12
April and is being held in an Israeli prison clinic which cannot provide the
specialist
care he
needs. He is suffering from various chronic health conditions including
diabetes,
asthma,
osteoporosis and high cholesterol.
Thirty-eight-year-old
Akram Rikhawi, from the Gaza Strip, is held in solitary confinement in the
Israel Prison Service
(IPS)
clinic in Ramleh prison in Israel, apparently as punishment for his hunger
strike. He is being denied regular access
to an
independent doctor and requires treatment in a civilian prison with the
necessary facilities to address his various
urgent
medical needs. During his hunger strike he has at times only taken water, while
at other times he has also taken
vitamins.
Akram
Rikhawi started his hunger strike in protest at the inadequacy of his medical
treatment in prison which led him to
request
early release although this was denied twice. On 4 July, a doctor from local
NGO, Physicians for Human Rights-
Israel
(PHR-I), finally visited Akram Rikhawi. PHR-I had made several requests to the
IPS for him to see an independent
doctor
as well as an appeal to the District Court, which on 27 June ruled that access
should be given no later than 3 July.
He has
had only one other visit from a PHR-I doctor which took place on 6 June.
On 4
July, PHR-I said that Akram Rikhawi’s asthma had worsened dramatically and that
the “… doctor believes [he] has
been
given very high doses of steroids as treatment [for asthma], which can cause
severe long-term and irreversible
damage.”
The doctor also reiterated a recommendation made following the June visit that
he should be examined by a
lung
specialist. The doctor also said that his right eye needs to be examined to
assess whether he needs surgery for a
possible
cataract; he has already had surgery for a cataract on his left eye. Akram
Rikhawi complained of extreme
dizziness,
numbness in his left thigh which PHR-I report could indicate peripheral nerve
damage. He has difficulty walking
and
standing but is apparently not being assisted to move around.
On 24
June Akram Rikhawi was taken to Assaf Harofeh Hospital, a public hospital in
Israel, where he spent two days
shackled
to the bed – a form of ill-treatment - until he was transferred back to prison.
Please
write immediately in Hebrew or your own language:
.
Expressing grave concern for Akram Rikhawi’s health, urging the authorities to
take immediate steps to ensure he
has
access to adequate medical care including the further examinations he requires
in civilian hospitals with
specialized
facilities, and access to an independent doctor of his choice;
. Urging
them to take all necessary measures to ensure that he is treated humanely at
all times and not punished in
any way
for his hunger strike including by being held in solitary confinement and
shackled.
PLEASE
SEND APPEALS BEFORE 27 AUGUST 2012 TO:
Deputy
Prime Minister and Minister of
Defence
Ehud
Barak, Ministry of Defence
37 Kaplan
Street, Hakirya
Tel Aviv
61909, ISRAEL
Fax: 011
972 3 69 16940 / 62757
Salutation:
Dear Minister
Israel
Prison Service Commissioner
Lieutenant-General Aharon Franco
Israel Prison Service, PO Box 81
Ramleh
72100, ISRAEL
Fax: 011
972 8 919 3800
Salutation:
Dear Lieutenant-General
And copies
to:
Military
Advocate General
Brigadier
General Danny Efroni
6 David Elazar Street
Hakirya, Tel Aviv, ISRAEL
Fax: 011
972 3 569 4526
Email:
avimn@idf.gov.il
Also
send :
Ambassador
Michael B. Oren, Embassy of Israel, 3514 International Dr. NW, Washington DC
20008
Tel: 1
202 364 5500 | Fax: 1 202 364 5423 | Email: info@israelemb.org –OR-
info@washington.mfa.gov.il | Twitter: @IsraelinUSA
Please
check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date.
URGENT
ACTION
HEALTH
FEARS FOR PALESTINIAN HUNGER STRIKER
ADDITIONAL
INFORMATION
Akram
Rikhawi was arrested by Israeli security forces at a checkpoint in 2004 while
he was travelling to his home in Rafah
in the
Gaza Strip. He was sentenced by a military court later the same year to nine
years’ imprisonment. Amnesty
International
is not aware of the offences of which he was convicted.
He was
part of the recent mass hunger strike involving some 2,000 Palestinian prisoners
and detainees who were
protesting
against poor prison conditions, including solitary confinement, denial of
family visits and detention without
charge.
The hunger strike came to an end on 14 May following an Egyptian-brokered deal
with the Israeli authorities. The
deal
included an agreement by the authorities to end the solitary confinement of 19
prisoners and lift a ban on family visits
for
prisoners from the Gaza Strip. On 16 July 2012, 40 relatives of 24 individuals
from Gaza who are held in Israel were
allowed
to visit their relatives in Ramon (also known as Nafkha) prison, southern
Israel. This is the first time since 2007
that the
Israeli authorities have allowed families from Gaza to visit their relatives in
Israeli prisons. Akram Rikhawi has not
seen his
family who live in Gaza since 2006. According to the ICRC, a total of 554
individuals whose families are in the
Gaza
Strip are held in Israeli prisons (see:
http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/news-release/2012/israel-
palestine-news-2012-07-16.htm).
Relatives of West Bank prisoners are also frequently denied visitor permits by
the
Israeli
authorities on unspecified “security” grounds.
At least
three other Palestinian men held in Israeli prisons remain on hunger-strike in
protest at their conditions and
detention
with trial. Read more at
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE15/038/2012/en.
Name:
Akram Rikhawi (m)
Issues:
Hunger Strike, Health concern
UA:
212/12
Issue
Date: 16 July 2012
Country:
Israel/ Occupied Palestinian Territories
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