The 51-year-old Hussam Abu Safia was detained in Gaza by the Israeli army in December and taken to Sde Teiman military detention camp in Israel’s Negev Desert, before being transferred to Ofer Prison, located near Ramallah.
He was “arrested by force, handcuffed and forced to take off his clothes after being taken from the hospital to one of the army camps”, said Samir al-Mana’ama, a lawyer with the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights who visited him in Ofer Prison on Tuesday.
Al-Mana’ama stated that Abu Safia suffers from “an enlarged heart muscle and from high blood pressure” and was beaten up and refused treatment for the heart condition.
Transferred to Ofter Prison on 9 January, he was held in solitary confinement for 25 days and interrogated nonstop by the Israeli army, Israeli intelligence and police, the lawyer added.
“Despite denying all the charges against him, he was beaten with an electric stick by the Israeli army so as to extract a confession from him,” added the lawyer.
There was “no legal justification” for Abu Safia’s arrest, the lawyer said, adding that “any accusation needs evidence and as long as there is no evidence, there is no real complete accusation against Doctor Hussam.”
A lack of medical care combined with the appalling conditions in “very cold prison cells” had “severely affected” the doctor’s health, he said, adding that he was “facing a lot of sufferings in his confinement and detention”.
In a separate statement issued by the lawyer, he said that Abu Safia had been given no access to legal counsel during his 47 days in arbitrary detention.
Abu Safia, who had documented the cruel impact of Israel’s offensive on Kamal Adwan Hospital, was arrested after refusing multiple military threats to leave the hospital during a devastating blockade on the northern Gaza Strip.
The doctor was reportedly sighted back in December by two released prisoners at Sde Teiman, a controversial facility known for its extreme abuse of detainees.
