Madrid hosts conference on rights of Palestinian prisoners

The conference aims to provide a platform to voice the atrocities faced by the Palestinian detainees and to shed light on Israeli violations against them.

It also seeks to garner international attention towards Palestinian prisoners’ plight and rally international support for their cause.

In his opening speech, Qaddura Fares, the head of the Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners Affairs Authority, said that Zionist regime has carried out over one million arrests since 1967, pointing out that 5,000 Palestinian citizens are currently held in 24 Israeli jails or detention centers.

Fares underlined that 450 Palestinian prisoners have been detained for over 20 years, 22 of whom were arrested before the Oslo agreement was signed in 1993. 

“Palestinian prisoners are living under grim and severe conditions due to the rise of the far-right extremist ideology of the Israeli government,” Fares affirmed.

He called for supporting the Palestinian prisoners in their struggle against the Israeli occupation, and pressuring Israel to stop its escalating crimes against Palestinian prisoners, such as medical neglect and administrative detention.