internationallaw Blog and Journals

November 7, 2008

Palestinian prisoner Mohannad Odeh from the town of Aroorah north of Ramallah in the West bank, filed a complaint to the lawyer of the Mandela Organization. His complaint might seem strange in the civilized world. He never knew why the Israeli prison administration transferred him to a hospital and why he was subjected to a surgery he knew nothing about since he is healthy.

He made it quite clear that he never suffered any health problems. But still he found himself being transferred to Soroka Hospital in Beir Elsabba (Beer Sheba).

He was requested to sign papers that should he died they can transfer and use his organs. He refused to sign and requested to see his family or get in contact with them before he was taken to the operating theatre. But the prison Administration denied him this request.

He was sedated, taken to the operating room, operated on without his consent. When he woke up, he found himself surrounded by Israeli doctors and medical instruments and pipes. What organs were taken? Or what kind of experimenting was done on such helpless prisoners?

Israel is breaching the International law inside and outside prisons. Palestinians are treated as if they have no human rights or dignity, and the international community is still debating should they interfere or not? Is it OK to allow hearing aids reach the Palestinian children who lost their hearing because of the Israeli bombings or not? Is it ok to make a man strip naked and dance for the soldiers’ sick pleasure? Is it ok to beat and torture a human
being? Is it ok to perform surgery on healthy, NON consenting adults or children? These and other questions must be answered by not only the Israeli government, the USA who funds Israel, but the whole world as well.

What is happening is outrageous. I hereby do request that the human rights groups and establishments conduct formal investigations and hold whoever is guilty- accountable for crimes against humanity.

Under no law it is accepted to breach human rights, occupied or not occupied, imprisoned or free. Should such outrageous breaches happen to a USA or UK citizen, the story would be on all the international front page news.
However because it is Palestinians who are being tortured and their organs are being taken away and their bodies are experimented on illegally, no one cares to report that. The world turns a blind eye.

Iqbal Tamimi / journalist - UK