Israel Moves Hundreds Of Terrible Prison Prisoners In The Negev Desert

UNSPLASH/Umanoide ILLUSTRATION

JAKARTA - Israel will gradually stop using detention camps in the desert after a CNN investigation detailed the offenses committed.

Israel has transferred hundreds of Palestinian prisoners out of the Sde Teiman detention facility in Israel's Negev desert, a state attorney told Israel's Supreme Court on Wednesday, June 5, in the first hearing on the facility.

Prisoners from Gaza are suspected of being detained in unknown conditions, experiencing extreme harassment.

State attorney Aner Helman told the court 700 inmates had been transferred to an Ofer military facility in the occupied West Bank.

While the other 500 will be moved in the coming weeks. About 200 detainees will remain in Sde Teiman, Helman said, saying the state would provide up-to-date information about their status within three days.

The hearing was held in response to a petition from the Civil Rights Association in Israel (ACRI) and other human rights groups, who took advantage of CNN's report on the emergency prison to file a case for the prison to be closed.

During a tense debate, one of the Supreme Court judges, Judge Barak Emez, urged the state's legal team regarding the legality of how to operate the facility.

"The question is whether Israeli law regarding imprisonment of combatants that violate the law is valid or not. That you do not answer," said Emez.

Avi Segal, a lawyer representing Israel's far-right legal organization Shurat Hadin who asked to follow the procedure, said the trial was based on a newspaper rumor.

"The court should be worried in holding trials, and even ask for a response to a petition based on rumors in the newspaper," Segal said.

CNN investigations, with Israeli fact-revealers as well as former Palestinian prisoners and eyewitnesses described the dire conditions at the facility, including continuous eye-clossing and handcuffs, sparking international condemnation.

The White House called the allegations detailed in CNN's report "very concerning" and said it was contacting Israeli officials for answers.

Meanwhile, the German Foreign Ministry criticized the reported practice and said it was campaigning for the International Red Cross Committee to access camps and other prisons.