"Administrative detention is bad enough - but punitive administrative detention is just unheard of!" So said today Shmuel Medad, a friend of Noam Federman, referring to the latter's two-month jail stay - with four months left to go. Federman is more than five weeks into a hunger strike, and "people who saw him yesterday in court were shocked at the weight he has lost," Medad said.
Federman, a resident of Hevron, was served with a six-month administrative detention order in late September while he was in the midst of appealing another decision against him in the Supreme Court. He has in fact been indicted dozens of times over the past several years of various crimes against Arabs, but, serving as his own defense counsel, he has been exonerated on the lion's share of them.
"Administrative detention is very problematic," Medad told Arutz-7 today. "It's reminiscent of Russia: the authorities submit secret information, he doesn't know what he's being accused of, and he's there defenseless against the system. It's a remnant of the British Mandatory authority. But in Noam's case, it's even worse than that: he's in administrative detention under punitive conditions! This is totally unheard of. He has no phone privileges, he is isolated, his wife was not permitted to visit and only recently has she been allowed to come for a half hour every two weeks to see him behind bars - and for that she has to drive two hours each way from Hevron to Netanya; he can't meet anyone even in jail, and he's in a wing with [Arab terrorists] Dirani and Obeid. They, of course, might be released soon [in exchange for Elchanan Tenenbaum and three soldiers' bodies], which of course will improve his conditions somewhat, but will also increase the absurdity of the situation: they're being released, but he, who has not been accused, remains in prison."
The ramifications of being held near Arab terrorists include having to hear them screaming threats to kill him. In addition, Medad recounts, "It once happened that an Arab prisoner happened to pass, in the hall, a Jewish security prisoner - Yossi Ben-Baruch, one of the Bat Ayin group - and threw boiling water on him, scalding him for a long time."
Another problem for Federman involves food. "Now he's hunger-striking," Medad said, "but when he received food, it wasn't kosher - meaning it didn't come in the closed packages with rabbinical supervision that religious prisoners are entitled to, but was rather prepared by non-religious prisoners on utensils that were not kept kosher. We cannot understand why Noam Federman is not entitled to the same privileges other religious prisoners are... His hunger strike is for two reasons: For one thing, the administrative detention itself and the fact that he has no way of defending himself. Secondly, because of the punitive conditions to which he is subject."
Asked what can be done, Medad said, "We have to increase the pressure - more phone calls and letters to Defense Minister Mofaz, etc. In addition, every Saturday night we gather outside the Ashmoret Prison, where Federman is being held, and yell out words of support that we know he hears..." Minister Mofaz can be reached as follows: Tel: 03-6976663, Fax: 03-6976218, Email - "sar@mod.gov.il".
MK Eliezer Cohen (National Union) told Arutz-7's Yosef Meiri that he would raise the issue of Federman's incarceration with his party colleagues at the weekly faction meeting this afternoon.
Federman, a resident of Hevron, was served with a six-month administrative detention order in late September while he was in the midst of appealing another decision against him in the Supreme Court. He has in fact been indicted dozens of times over the past several years of various crimes against Arabs, but, serving as his own defense counsel, he has been exonerated on the lion's share of them.
"Administrative detention is very problematic," Medad told Arutz-7 today. "It's reminiscent of Russia: the authorities submit secret information, he doesn't know what he's being accused of, and he's there defenseless against the system. It's a remnant of the British Mandatory authority. But in Noam's case, it's even worse than that: he's in administrative detention under punitive conditions! This is totally unheard of. He has no phone privileges, he is isolated, his wife was not permitted to visit and only recently has she been allowed to come for a half hour every two weeks to see him behind bars - and for that she has to drive two hours each way from Hevron to Netanya; he can't meet anyone even in jail, and he's in a wing with [Arab terrorists] Dirani and Obeid. They, of course, might be released soon [in exchange for Elchanan Tenenbaum and three soldiers' bodies], which of course will improve his conditions somewhat, but will also increase the absurdity of the situation: they're being released, but he, who has not been accused, remains in prison."
The ramifications of being held near Arab terrorists include having to hear them screaming threats to kill him. In addition, Medad recounts, "It once happened that an Arab prisoner happened to pass, in the hall, a Jewish security prisoner - Yossi Ben-Baruch, one of the Bat Ayin group - and threw boiling water on him, scalding him for a long time."
Another problem for Federman involves food. "Now he's hunger-striking," Medad said, "but when he received food, it wasn't kosher - meaning it didn't come in the closed packages with rabbinical supervision that religious prisoners are entitled to, but was rather prepared by non-religious prisoners on utensils that were not kept kosher. We cannot understand why Noam Federman is not entitled to the same privileges other religious prisoners are... His hunger strike is for two reasons: For one thing, the administrative detention itself and the fact that he has no way of defending himself. Secondly, because of the punitive conditions to which he is subject."
Asked what can be done, Medad said, "We have to increase the pressure - more phone calls and letters to Defense Minister Mofaz, etc. In addition, every Saturday night we gather outside the Ashmoret Prison, where Federman is being held, and yell out words of support that we know he hears..." Minister Mofaz can be reached as follows: Tel: 03-6976663, Fax: 03-6976218, Email - "sar@mod.gov.il".
MK Eliezer Cohen (National Union) told Arutz-7's Yosef Meiri that he would raise the issue of Federman's incarceration with his party colleagues at the weekly faction meeting this afternoon.