Overview
- Dr. Mazen Rantisi was arrested in a pre-dawn raid on 21 June and has been indicted for serving as chairman of the Union of Health Work Committees.
- Rantisi says prison staff withheld his regular medication for the first ten days and that prison medics checked him only once through a small door opening.
- He and his lawyer report repeated cell raids, physical beatings of detainees, and at least one incident where guards sprayed tear gas into his cell.
- Visitors describe severe overcrowding with ten men in a six-bed cell, wet and mouldy mattresses, no cleaning supplies, and food they say was rotten or inedible.
- The Israel Prison Service denies the allegations and says it holds prisoners according to the law while lawyers and a 1 July Public Defender’s Office report point to broader deterioration in Israeli prison conditions.