IMRA: When IMRA first saw this list of demands being circulated by third parties on internet it did not distribute it as the list is so absurd that it might possibly have been a hoax. These demands are being made by prisoners who have already have a record orchestrating numerous murderous terror attacks from within prison using telephones, weapons, etc. smuggled into the prisons via family members.

August 15, 2004

Palestinian Prisoners Demands Presented to Israeli Prisons Service (IPS)
 www.addameer.org/hunger_strike/demands.html

One: Family and/or Lawyers Visits
1. To remove the glass/plastic barrier between prisoners and visitors.
2. To increase the period of family visit to one hour.
3. To allow personal contact with children as in the past.
4. To allow all family members and relatives to visit.
5. To allow brothers and sisters to visit as in the past.
6. To allow private visits (without barriers).
7. To allow second and third degree relatives to visit.
8. To relocate detainees/prisoners in areas close to their residential areas.
9. To relocate prisoners who are immediate relatives in one prison.
10. To allow personal belongings and clothes to be brought during visits.
11. To allow prisoners to take photos with family members and children
12. To allow family visits for Arab prisoners once every 6 months for at least four hours.
13. To allow visitors to bring with them an unlimited number of photographs of relatives.
14. To allow visitors to bring with them bed-covers, watches, Palestinian head scarves, head wear, etc.
15. To make family visits on Fridays as in the past.
16. To bring in families to visit as soon as they arrive to the prison. No delays either at the prison or at checkpoints.
17. To allow prisoners to take out cantina (canteen food and drinks) to the visit without limitations.
18. To allow prisoners to take to any kind of drinks to the visit and not limit it to “Sprite”.
19. To allow prisoners to be in plain clothes during the visit and not restricted to uniforms of certain colors or design.
20. To allow prisoners’ handwork to be given out at the visit after coordination.
21. To allow bringing in all kinds of cigarettes, audio-tapes, and video-tapes during the visit.

Two: Phone Calls
1. To install pay phones in prison sections and/or yards and/or cells or allow mobile phones in every cell or for every prisoner.
2. To allow prisoners representatives to make phone calls to prisoner’s organizations and lawyers and to Palestinian Ministry of Prisoners Affairs.
3. To remove all signal-distortion equipment – known to cause various health problems including cancer.

Three: Food
1. To prepare and define a list of quantities of all sorts of food that prisoners have the right to receive and to provide this list to prisoners representatives.
2. To change the basket of vegetables and fruits and end the practice of the administrations taking part of it.
3. To allow prisoners to buy vegetables, fruits, fish, and meats of all sorts on a monthly basis.
4. To allow prisoners in all prisons to prepare their own food according to their customs and religions.
5. To give back kitchen equipment that was taken away from prisoners in all “security” prisons.
6. To change old kitchen utensils and replace them with new ones.
7. To open bakeries and allow Palestinian prisoners to work at them; to allow bread to be brought in during visits.

Four: Health Care / Treatment
1. To develop and expand clinics and equip them for emergency cases especially at Nafha prison; A practicing physician should be at the clinic 7 days a week.
2. To allow a Palestinian prisoner to be present and working at the clinic.
3. To conduct surgery for prisoners immediately (without the usual intentional delay)
4. To allow physicians from outside to be able to check prisoners and ease the procedures in doing so.
5. To widen the range of physicians to include all specialties.
6. To allow dental surgeries/ teeth implants at the expense of prisoners by their own doctors.
7. To perform kidney, cornea and prosthetic transplants for those prisoners who have been waiting for years.
8. To allow the purchase of medical mattresses, pillows, shoes and some pharmaceuticals through the cantina.
9. To solve all problems related to the hospital in Ramleh.
10. An overall medical checkup for every prisoner at least once a year.
11. A optician visit to every prison on a regular and constant basis; eye checkups for every prisoner once every 6 months, changing of glasses when needed, allow the use of eye lenses; and to provide all needed supplies to solve health problems related vision.
12. To allow prisoners to have the equipment necessary to measure blood pressure and sugar levels where needed.

Five: Counting
1. To end all practices and policies accompanying counting the prisoners; allow all those prisoners in isolation back to regular sections

Six: Collective Punishment
1. To end all collective punishments.
2. To end the policy of fines.
3. To end the policy of confiscating personal belongings and punishing prisoners by denying them family visits.
4. To return all money confiscated from prisoners accounts to be able to use them in enhancing the health care and the education of prisoners.
5. To compensate prisoners for every item that was damaged intentionally through raids on cell-blocks.
6. To define the maximum isolation period as a punishment to a week and to provide humane detention conditions in isolation cells: access to toilets, a washing sink, a two hour recreation period, to allow a fan, to allow books and radio and cantina, not to handcuff prisoners inside the cells, to end the policy of handcuffing prisoners while meeting prison administration.

Seven: Education at Universities
1. To allow prisoners to study at Palestinian, Arab, and International Universities.
2. To end the policy of punishing prisoners by denying them the right to continue their education.
3. To allow newspapers, journals and magazines without any delay.
4. To allow purchasing different electronic dictionaries not limited to one brand.
5. To allow all cells to have access to a computer and not only students.
6. To allocate study rooms and halls and to reopen all libraries.
7. To allow stationary without limitation in type or quantities.
8. To allow photocopying research material, educational material

Eight: Cantine
1. To allow buying from Arab sources and end the monopoly.
2. To cancel the 17% VAT tax.
3. To unify the prices for all prisons.
4. To end all restrictions on the items allowed.
5. To form an investigation committee to check on the legality of the 17% VAT tax and on the right of prisoners to benefit from the profit of the cantine.

Nine: Movement within each section and the recreation area
1. To increase the recreation time to four hours a day as used to be the case.
2. To restore visits between section and cells to day-long visits.
3. To leave cell doors within each section open all day.
4. To restore the right of elderly, ill prisoners, those who spent over ten years of imprisonment, and prisoners with special needs to get to yards and recreation areas freely.
5. To allow university students to choose recreation time suitable for them.
6. To allow prisoners representatives to be able to visit sections, recreational areas, and to be present at family visits in order to be able to follow up on issues and concerns and solve any problem without making this right dependant on the mood of security guards.
7. To open the gate to the recreational area every half an hour to enable prisoners to get to the area or back to sections.
8. To allow freedom of movement within each section without restricting the time or period.
9. To install water pipes in each section.
10. To restore the weekly general cleaning day as in the past.
11. To install water pipes to the recreation area and the yard as used to be the case.
12. To restore the recreation time from 15:00 to 17:00 and from 17:00 to 19:00.
13. To allow working prisoners to stay at the recreation area until 20:00.
14. Not to transfer a prisoner from any prison before spending 2 years in it unless the prisoner applies for a transfer.
15. To cancel the policy of moving certain prisoners constantly around the prisons, never settling in one.
16. To allow Friday Imams to be able to move from one section to another.
17. To allow having events, debates, celebrations in the recreation areas and yards as in the past.
18. Freedom to transfer among cells within one section without any sort of restriction.
19. To remove the ban on practicing Karate during the recreation period.

Ten: Tools, Instruments, private and general equipment
1. To allow the following to be purchased at the cantina by every prisoner: a light-bulb for reading, electronic dictionary without restricting the brand, electric shaving-machine, and electric fan.
2. To install air ventilation in the cells and section as well as air conditioning.
3. To install air conditioning at the visiting area and waiting cells.
4. To provide electric kettle.
5. To provide an electric toaster for each cell.
6. To provide a small refrigerator in each cell.
7. A small photocopier in each section.
8. To install an Antenna for the radio.
9. To allow winter jackets.
10. To allow waist belts.
11. To allow sport ropes.
12. To allow to have cameras in each section and to be able to take collective photos.
13. To allow fruits knife in each cell

Eleven: Searching and Security Checks
1. To end the practice of body search by hand and to restrict it to electronic scanning.
2. To stop searching children 14 years old and under during visits.
3. End totally strip search.
4. End night searches and the practice of Matsada unit, dissolve it or end it’s services.
5. Not to handcuff prisoners during the search.
6. Never to damage or confiscate personal belongings while searching.
7. To stop searching prisoners each time they leave to the recreation area or to prayers.
8. Security search be limited to only once a day maximum and not to force prisoners outside the section during the search.
9. Security search to be conducted during the recreation period.
10. To limit the overall general search to once every 6 months.

Twelve: Working Facilities
1. To increase the number of working prisoners in the various facilities.
2. To restore kitchens, laundries, and sewing and allow Palestinian prisoners to work at these facilities.
3. To allow at least two prisoners to work in the section (corridor) outside the cells till 22:30 and extend their recreation time till 20:00.
4. To re-allow a prisoner to work in yard and recreation area as in the past and to make available a storage room and a room for working and working tools.
5. To allow a prisoner to work at the clinic.
6. To restore the special recreation period for workers.
7. To raise payment for workers.
8. To allow an additional worker at the library.
9. To allow a worker to fix electric equipment in each section as in the past.
10. To allow all tools for hairdressing and to change them once every 6 months.

Thirteen: Counting
1. To allow prisoners in the upper beds not to step down at the morning count and to limit to them just raising themselves up in their beds.
2. To be content by showing the hands for those who are in toilets at the time of counting taking into consideration to avoid using the toilet around the time of count unless it’s urgent or to pass the cell and return to it later.

Fourteen: Transfer, Travel and waiting (passing) sections
1. To allow prisoners to have cantina with them while being transferred (canned food, etc.).
2. To be moved directly to the buses without being held and delayed in waiting rooms.
3. To change seats in the buses to more comfortable ones.
4. Each prisoner to be handcuffed separately from others and to stop using the plastic handcuffs and replace them with the metal ones.
5. To allow prisoners representatives to meet newly transferred prisoners at the bus as they arrive.
6. To improve all conditions at the passing (waiting) sections in each of Asqalan, Ramleh, and Birsheva prisons.
7. To remove the darkened windows of the buses.

Fifteen: General Demands
1. To return to prisoners all the cans (canned food) and cups and all what was confiscated in Asqalan and Nafha after the last raids.
2. To allow handwork and to be able to purchase all needed at the cantina or to be able to get it during visits.
3. To remove asbestos from the cells to improve ventilation in cells and sections.
4. To provide once again what the administrations used to provide at their expense: tooth paste, tooth brush, soap, cleaning and hygiene provisions, etc.
5. To make available lists of IPS rules in every section in Arabic.
6. To increase the number of allowed TV channels.
7. To re-install wooden boards to all beds, change the beds each year, paint cells each year, and to install sides to the beds.
8. To remove all male guards from female sections.
9. To improve all conditions and to meet all needs of imprisoned minors.
10. To end the use of arbitrary transfer of prisoners from one prison to another.
11. To remove one bed in each cell.
12. To end the use of the special classification of certain prisoners “prisoners sentenced for serious offences” and end all unjustified punishments against them and to allow them to be able to work at various facilities in the prisons.
13. To implement the Geneva Convention and all international human rights standards and agreements.
14. To use only the buses to transfer prisoners between prisons and/or to and from court hearings.
15. To allow visits on special occasions as religious holidays.
16. To double the number and the period of visits during holidays.
17. To allow prisoners to send out written material: diaries, poems, studies, prose, etc. during visits.
18. To define the life sentence as in the case of Israeli prisoners and to consider seriously the provision of parole.
19. Not to interfere in Friday prayers and/or preaching and not to punish preachers for whatever they say.
20. To allow hard covers for books and never to remove them.
21. To separate shower area from toilets.
22. To provide prosthetics for those prisoners with amputations.

The Unified Leadership of the Hunger Strike
11 August 2004
Freedom for Prisoners

ADDAMEER Prisoners Support and Human Rights Association
P.O.Box 17338, Jerusalem
Ramallah Office: Al-Isra’ Bldg., 7th floor, Al-Irsal St.
Tel: +972-2-2960446 Fax: +972-2-2960447
E-mail: addameer@planet.edu

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