18 Prisoners Who Spent Over a Quarter Century in Detention Deserve Their Freedom
The Palestine Center for Prisoners Studies has confirmed that the occupation continues to hold eighteen Palestinian prisoners, the least of whom has spent a quarter century in Israeli prisons without interruption. These individuals deserve their freedom following these long years of imprisonment and ill-treatment, during which they have lost dozens of family members and loved ones while in captivity.
Riyad Al-Ashqar, Director of the Center and researcher, stated that the world stands by as spectators while the lives of these prisoners slip away behind cold prison bars, walls that carry within them certain death or lifelong illness, without compassion or mercy, and without any genuine intervention to secure the freedom and release of these prisoners.
Al-Ashqar noted that despite the resistance’s success in securing the release of hundreds of long-held prisoners and those sentenced to life imprisonment through the recent exchange agreement across its three phases, the occupation continues to detain more than 250 prisoners classified as “Dean Prisoners”, those who have spent over twenty consecutive years in Israeli prisons. Among them are eighteen prisoners who have spent more than a quarter century, including ten who have endured more than three consecutive decades in captivity.
Al-Ashqar emphasized that these prisoners are not mere statistics circulated through the media; rather, they are victims of Israeli criminality, which has established prisons to serve as graves for these detainees. Each prisoner carries a story embodying the love of life, perseverance, and freedom. Each prisoner has loved ones, dozens of whom have died during their prolonged detention, without the prisoner being permitted to bid them farewell or even cast a final glance upon their remains before burial. The majority of these deceased relatives belong to the immediate family: fathers, mothers, children, and siblings.
Al-Ashqar stated that the world, with its institutions that profess commitment to human rights conventions, has failed to support these heroic prisoners or stand by their rights, not only in securing their release but also in pressuring the occupation to provide them with dignified living conditions during detention, including basic necessities and essential supplies. Many of these prisoners have exceeded seventy years of age and suffer from multiple illnesses.
Al-Ashqar added that the majority of prisoners who have spent more than a quarter century suffer from various medical conditions ranging from moderate to severe, resulting from the accumulated harsh conditions and violations endured over twenty-five years or more in detention. The policy of medical neglect denies them treatment, surgical procedures, or even the provision of assistive devices such as wheelchairs, crutches, or prescription eyeglasses, particularly during the past two years, following the tightening of detention conditions and the intensification of ill-treatment and torture under directives from ministers in the extremist occupation government.
Al-Ashqar explained that the longest-held prisoners in Israeli detention are three Palestinians from the 1948 territories: Ibrahim Abu Mukh, Ibrahim Bayadseh, and Ibrahim Abu Jaber. They have been imprisoned for approximately forty years and have only several months remaining to complete their sentences before release. They are serving forty-year prison terms, commuted from life sentences originally imposed following their arrest, having been detained since 1986.
Al-Ashqar emphasized his call upon the international community to adopt a positive stance in solidarity with the suffering of Palestinians and to intervene for the release of these prisoners who have spent the greater part of their lives behind bars. The decades they have endured in Israeli prisons, during which they have suffered every form of torture, ill-treatment, and deprivation, are more than sufficient. He further called upon the mediators of the Gaza ceasefire agreement to take a genuine position in support of the prisoners and to demand the release of long-serving detainees as part of a goodwill arrangement.
