CNN INVESTIGATION FINDS 80% OF PALESTINIAN PRISONERS NOT CHARGED
November 29, 2023CNN’s Nima Elbagir investigates how many Palestinians detained by Israel, including 80% of those identified by Israel as eligible for release in the recent hostage deal, have not been charged with a crime. They are held without due process and not even given access to proper legal counsel or to see their families.
The inhumanity of Israel’s oppression continues to defy logic, reason not to mention decency and humanity.
Where are our world leaders? How are they aligned to such a fascist, oppressive colonialist regime?
The world thought it saw the end of Apartheid when Nelson Mandela was freed and South Africa liberated.
WE WERE SO WRONG!
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English Script:
VO: The moment a mother finally sees her daughter for the first time after eight years in an Israeli prison. The relief, the anguish, the utter joy. Malak Salman was part of the first wave of hostage prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas
Malak: It was painful because I was leaving the sisters I made inside prison and I feel like my freedom was paid for with the blood of the 14,000 Gazans killed.
VO: Malak, then 16, was charged with an attempted stabbing of Israelis. Israeli authorities say no one was injured and yet she was convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to ten years. When her family appealed, it came down to nine. Malak served almost eight of those seven years, spending the remainder of her teenage years behind bars. Her family maintains her innocence. Fatima, Malak’s mother, had dreamed of this day for years. To embrace her daughter, to share that joy with her community. She says this was denied.
Fatima: The Israeli authorities were with us from 2 p.m. They surrounded the house and ripped down the decorations of any display of celebration. They stole the joy of my daughter’s release.
VO: To be released doesn’t mean you are fully free. Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who is himself found guilty in 2007, before he was a minister, of incitement to racism against Arabs and supporting a terror organization. Ben-Gvir instructed Israeli forces to use an iron fist, preventing Palestinians from celebrating the release of their loved ones, saying the prisoners were terrorists.
Ben Gvir: Expressions of joy are a support for terrorism, celebrations of victory give strength to those same human scum, those Nazis. The policy here is very, very, very clear not to allow these expressions of joy and resolutely strive to make contact and stop any support for these Nazis.
VO: Another night, another scene of Israeli Forces removing well-wishers and journalists at the home of a released Palestinian prisoner taking a heavy handed approach as ordered by their National Security Minister. In Bethlehem, in the occupied West Bank, they were able to defy Ben-Gvir, celebrating the release of Fatima Shaheen and others from the city. Fatima left her home walking and returned almost seven months later with life changing injuries. Shot by Israeli soldiers and accused of attempted murder.
Fatima: They accused me of carrying out a stabbing. It’s not true. They opened fire on me. I was hit in the spine with two bullets. Two vertebrae were damaged. They replaced them with titanium. I cannot feel my legs or stand up. They also removed five centimeters from my liver and one kidney.
VO: For months, Fatima’s families say they were denied access, even as her detention stretched on.
Fatima: It was forbidden for my relatives to visit me or even the lawyers. I was not allowed to make any calls.
VO: Israel says Fatima attempted murder, and yet she was only detained. Not charged. She didn’t go to trial. She wasn’t given any opportunity to defend herself. And this is a story we keep hearing again and again from released prisoners that they aren’t given due process. And yet this crime exists alongside their names. The Israeli Prison Service responded to these allegations saying national security prisoners who were released from the Israeli prison during the past two days were serving time for serious crimes such as attempted murder, assault and throwing explosives. All prisoners in IPS custody are held according to the law. That’s not true. CNN broke down the numbers in a list of 300 Palestinian prisoners identified by Israel as eligible for release. 80% are listed as just detained, which means they have not been formally sentenced. Israel operates two systems of law in the occupied territories. Palestinians under the military. Israelis under civil law. Creating a low bar for the arrest of increasing numbers of Palestinians. And as Israeli hard liners like Ben-Gvir and others in this far right government seek to characterize every Palestinian as a terrorist, that number is rising every day.
The Israeli Defense Force didn’t respond to our requests for comment. But the numbers speak for themselves, Jake. That was just a very small sample that was released by Israel’s Department of Justice. But the number of Palestinians who have been swept up into Israeli jails within the last two, three months are almost at 9000. And if Fatima and Malak are any, give us any kind of insight into what those other thousands of Palestinians are going through. There’s a real concern that there is no distinction between a Palestinian and a terrorist in the way that Israel chooses to apply its law to them. It’s martial law, Jake.
