The lawyer of Sheikh Raed Salah, the head of the Islamic movement inside the occupied Palestinian territories, revealed some of the details of the Sheikh’s life inside his isolation in the Israeli “Raymond” prison.

On Sunday, August 16, 2020, Sheikh Raed Salah began implementing the remainder of the Israeli occupation court’s sentence of 17 months in prison for him in the “constant file”, knowing that the occupation court issued its decision to imprison the Sheikh for 28 months.

Abuse, isolation and deprivation

Al-Sheikh had previously spent 11 months of his sentence in 2017 and 2018, before he was admitted to the home prison, and then to prison and isolated in solitary confinement, and to further increase the Sheikh’s suffering, he was transferred between several Israeli prisons, including: “Al-Jalama” prison and “Al-Jalama” prison. Ohli Kedar is an Israeli, now in Raymond.

The lawyer of the Al-Mizan Foundation for Human Rights in Nazareth, Omar Al-Khamaisi, who recently visited Sheikh Raed Salah in his isolation, spoke about the very difficult conditions of his detention and the complex suffering that the head of the Islamic movement suffers from. He explained that “the sheikh is currently in the “Raymond” prison, adjacent to the “Nafha” prison in the far south of the country (occupied Palestine).

He added in an exclusive statement to “Arabi 21”: “Sheikh Raed is away from his family about three and a half hours’ journey in each direction, and he has been in solitary confinement since entering prison.”

Al-Khamaisi, a member of the defense lawyer’s staff, confirmed that “there are restrictions on Sheikh Raed in his communication with the outside world, as he is prevented from watching Arab news stations and newspapers as well.”

He pointed out that there is “continuous abuse of basic matters related to the prisoner’s daily needs; From providing cover, family visits, and books he wants to read,” explaining that “Israeli law allows the prisoner’s family to enter one or two books in each visit, and despite that, the sheikh is abused in this aspect, and his family is prohibited from bringing books to him by his family on false pretexts Far from logic and truth.

The lawyer warned, that the Israeli prison authorities, “from time to time, enter the room in which the sheikh is to be searched, even though he is in solitary confinement, and he is also prevented by the prison administration from communicating with the rest of the Palestinian prisoners,” noting that he “goes out for a tour that extends for minutes.” They are numbered in the prison yard, which is completely closed even from above, and it is not possible to look at the sky without seeing a barbed wire barrier.”

continuous targeting

He stressed that “Sheikh Raed Salah lives inside his prison in very difficult conditions,” noting that “the angering thing to the Sheikh – as he told me – is that he has reached the stage of disgust and anger at the daily policies of the Israeli prison officer, and the officers who follow his condition, as they are dealing with distant behaviors.” On the basis of logic and common sense, but rather with a behavior close to stupidity with the type of maliciousness only because he is Sheikh Raed Salah, only because he defends his right and the word and his national and religious constants.

Al-Khamaisi continued: “The conditions of Sheikh Raed Salah inside the Israeli prison remain the same as the conditions of the prisoner who is trapped even inside his prison, by being isolated for a very long time.”

For decades, the occupation, through its various security and political agencies and institutions, has continued to abuse and prosecute the sheikh, from repeated arrests to home confinement, travel bans, deportation and denial of entry to the occupied city of Jerusalem, prayer in the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, and other punitive measures. The 63-year-old has been in a small cell since entering prison on August 16, 2020.

It is noteworthy that the head of the Islamic movement previously revealed that the occupation attempted to assassinate him on board the Turkish “Marmara” ship in 2010, which was on its way to the besieged Gaza Strip for the 15th year in a row. A Turkish activist similar to the sheikh, Ibrahim Beglin, was on the ship.

This incident was preceded by another Israeli assassination attempt when Sheikh Raed Salah was wounded in 2000 by a bullet fired by the occupation forces.