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In Egypt, political detainees, including Muslim Brotherhood members have gone on a hunger strike to protest what they call their deteriorating humanitarian conditions. According to the Brotherhood some 450 prisoners are now refusing to eat. Reports say the detainees in Torah prison are tortured and patients are denied proper medical care. The strike comes as Egypt\\\'s army-backed authorities intensify a crackdown on supporters of ousted President Mohammad Morsi.

[07 May 2014] Gazans march in solidarity with Palestinian administrative detainees - English

[13 oct 2013] US used strong-arm tactics to end detainees hunger strike - English

[29 Apr 2014] Afghan detainees are hostages at bases run by foreign troops - English

US nails down deals to release Gitmo detainees held without charges

Bahrain accused of ill-treatment of detainees

[24 Feb 2016] Report: Shin bet tortures Palestinian detainees - English

[16 July 2012] Palestinians rally to demand release of prisoners - English Palestinians in Gaza held a large rally in front of the office of the international committee of the Red Cross. They demanded the immediate release of all Palestinian prisoners, especially administrative detainees and those who have been on hunger strike for many weeks. Among the protestors were former detainees who were released in a prisoner exchange deal between Hamas and Israel in late 2011.

[12 Aug 2012] Israeli prisons increase repression during Ramadan - English Prisoner Hatem Qafisha, an administrative detainee, said the prison\'s administration started to handcuff the prisoners\' hands and legs during meetings with the lawyers, and when using bathrooms. Qashafa also said that the prisoners suffer from these brutal procedures besides the hard living conditions due to the hot weather, the continuous cut in the electricity and the lack of the electrical equipment. The prisoner Musaab Fathi from Ramallah, an administrative detainee since 5/6/2011, also said that prisoners in section 6 live in harsh living conditions; the prisons\' administration didn\'t provide the basic materials for cooking, so prisoners just eat little amount of food that the prison provides and they are forced to drink warm water because there are no refrigerators in that section. He added that the prison\'s administration also put the African detainees in the same section, the thing that causes a lot of dispute between the prisoners.

New information has been released about the Gezi park protests that happened in Turkey throughout this summer. The protests started over the ruling AK Party\\\'s decision to destroy the last remainig park to Istanbul iconic Taxsim square. The protests quickly spiraled into mass anti-government rallies through out the country. The protesters condemned the ruling AK Party and its leader Prime Minister Recep Teyyip Erdogan. They also accused the government of being dictatorial with a hidden religious agenda in store for Turkeys secular society.

Turkish prosecutors in Istanbul have charged eight people with corruption and fraud. The defendants have been placed in pre-trial detention as part of a wide graft investigation. The eight are among 52 people who were arrested in a series of raids on Tuesday. They are accused of offences, including accepting and facilitating bribes for development projects. The sons of three ministers and several top business leaders are among those arrested. In the wake of the raids, several dozen police officers have also been sacked, accused of abusing power. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has labeled the corruption investigation a dirty operation aimed at undermining his government. The probe has prompted opposition parties to call for the government\\\'s resignation.

Bahrain accused of ill-treatment of detainees

A man held without charges since 2002 has committed suicide at the Guantanamo detention center, US military officials have revealed. Yemeni national Muhammad Ahmad Abdallah Salih was found "unresponsive and not breathing" when guards checked his cell Monday night, US Southern Command spokesman Jose Ruiz said in a statement. A prison physician pronounced the man dead after efforts to resuscitate him had failed. A man found innocent and subsequently released from Guantanamo Bay last year expounded on the situation at the notorious detention center in an interview with Press TV earlier in 2009. Binyam Mohamed -- a British citizen arrested in Pakistan in 2002 on suspicion of plotting a string of bomb blast in the US -- said that during the five years he spent at the detention center he was surreptitiously "tortured in medieval ways". "It is still difficult for me to believe that I was abducted, hauled from one country to the next and tortured in medieval ways. While I want to recover and put it all as far in the past as I can, I also know I have an obligation to the people who still remain in those torture chambers," he said. This is not the first time a Guantanamo detainee has ended his life. In a coordinated act of protest, three Guantanamo detainees hanged themselves with their sheets on June 10, 2006. Another prisoner killed himself in May 2007 by hanging himself with a noose made from bed linens. The death is expected to cause a new wave of criticism against the military prison, which Amnesty International calls the "the gulag of our times". "The cost of keeping Guantanamo open could not be clearer at a time like this, both for the men there and for the perception of the US in the world," says the Center for Constitutional Rights, which represents Guantanamo prisoners in habeas corpus cases. Although US President Barack Obama has ordered an end to the 'harsh interrogation' program launched by the Bush administration, the fates of the detainees who await trials remain uncertain www.presstv.com

[14 Sept 2012] Oslo Accord anniversary in Gaza - English

A new investigation indicates that immigration officials in Thailand have sold hundreds of Rohingya Muslims to human traffickers. The report says Myanmar\'s Rohingyas who fled oppression in their home country, have been secretly transported across southern Thailand. They were held hostage for ransom in a series of heavily-guarded camps near Thailand\'s border with Malaysia. Detainees who couldn\'t pay ransom have been sold to some shipping companies and farms. Some survivors who were interviewed by reporters said a number of detainees were killed by traffickers or died from dehydration or diseases. Thailand\'s second-highest-ranking policeman has also admitted that Thai officials might have profited from the smuggling because that meant removing the refugees from detention centers in Thailand.

A human rights organization in Egypt has urged the prosecutor general to launch an independent probe into alleged systematic torture of political detainees. The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information has said in a statement that torturing the detainees is not an arbitrary practice but a planned one. The Cairo-based body says the torture incidents reported by those arrested during the third anniversary of the 2011 revolution has surpassed those under the worst dictatorial regimes. It says the national human rights council has already been informed of the violations of prisoners\' rights. The Arab Network for rights information has also accused Egypt\'s Interior Ministry of refusing to arrest officers allegedly involved in killing of protesters.

One grave incident among thousands of horrible crimes of USA - From Press TV - English

UN official Enough evidence to prosecute Rumsfeld - English. Monday, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture Manfred Nowak told CNN's Rick Sanchez that the US has an "obligation" to investigate whether Bush administration officials ordered torture, adding that he believes that there is already enough evidence to prosecute former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. "We have clear evidence," he said. "In our report that we sent to the United Nat More..ions, we made it clear that former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld clearly authorized torture methods and he was told at that time by Alberto Mora, the legal council of the Navy, 'Mr. Secretary, what you are actual ordering here amounts to torture.' So, there we have the clear evidence that Mr. Rumsfeld knew what he was doing but, nevertheless, he ordered torture." Asked during an interview with Germany's ZDF television on Jan. 20, Nowak said: "I think the evidence is on the table." At issue, however, is whether "American law will recognize these forms of torture." A bipartisan Senate report released last month found Rumsfeld and other top administration officials responsible for abuse of Guantanamo detainees in US custody. It said Rumsfeld authorized harsh interrogation techniques on December 2, 2002 at the Guantanamo prison, although he ruled them out a month later. The coercive measures were based on a document signed by Bush in February, 2002.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says foreign forces orchestrated the post-election turmoil in the country and are thus responsible for its controversial aftermath, including alleged mistreatment of detainees in Iranian jails. In a pre-sermon speech to Friday prayers worshippers in Tehran University, President Ahmadinejad said he is in possession of evidence that exonerates "revolutionary, military, security and intelligence forces" from any allegations of detainee abuse

In Turkey, thousands have taken to the streets to express their anger over Israel's deadly raid on an aid flotilla bound for the Gaza Strip. Turkish activists returning home after being arrested on the vessels and then deported are strongly critical of the Israeli conduct and the treatment of detainees after the raid.

Rights activists criticize Bahrain govt. A group of Human Right activists have expressed their concern over deteriorating human rights situation in the Persian Gulf state of Bahrain. The Sunni-dominated government has intensified the crackdown launched against the Shia population, arresting dozens of opposition figures on suspicion of toppling the government. In a letter to the Bahraini King, Shaikh Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, the officers of the Advisory Committee of Human Rights Watch's Middle East and North Africa division criticized the government. The group also called on the King of Bahrain to defend human rights activists, saying they are worried about Nabeel Rajab, the head of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights and a member of the Advisory Committee. The government-affiliated media accused Rajab of liaising with "international organizations." The allegation came after the Bahrain Center for Human Rights criticized the government's recent arrests of opposition figures, the activists wrote. In an interview with Press TV last week, Rajab said, "there is a continuous war against all Shias who are critics of the government." Many of the opposition detainees were tortured and sexually assaulted, among them were religious figures, he revealed. The population of Bahrain is predominantly Shia. However, the majority group has long complained of being discriminated against by the Sunni-dominated government in obtaining jobs and receiving services. The Shia opposition also refuses to recognize the 2002 Constitution, which curbed the power of the Shia-majority parliament, and has called for the boycott of next month's parliamentary elections. The following is the complete text of the letter to the King of Bahrain: HRW raise concerns on targeting of human rights activists in Bahrain Including Head of BCHR and HRW Advisory Committee member Nabeel Rajab Article Source: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/144381.html

Egypt detains 154 opposition members The Egyptian government has detained 154 members of the country's largest opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood, ahead of general elections. According to the Muslim Brotherhood, the arrests were made in 17 different governorates just days after the group said it would field independent candidates in the upcoming parliamentary elections. Egyptian security forces, however, say they detained the opposition members over alleged plans to cause disturbance. The group's lawyer Abdul Monem Abdul Maqsoud told reporters in Cairo on Sunday that 70 detainees remain in custody but the others were released after questioning, DPA reported. Abdul Maqsoud said the arrests were aimed at spreading fear among opposition supporters to keep people from joining the election campaign. Meanwhile, prominent Egyptian opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei earlier called for a boycott of the elections. The Muslim Brotherhood has defended its decision to field candidates. "We participate for Egypt's sake," Muslim Brotherhood spokesman Essam el-Erian said last week. "Participation is the best way to expose the corruption of the regime." Independent Muslim Brotherhood candidates won nearly a fifth of the People's Assembly seats in the 2005 general elections. Article Source: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/147103.html

Topic of discussion in this edition of Press TV's Comment is revolutions across the Arab world. Egyptian detainees are still being tortured by the military. The Egyptian government is still refusing to allow in George Galloway, but he says he still intends to fly to Egypt despite being threatened with arrest. He condemns the brutal attack of the Bahraini government forces against peaceful protesters in the middle of the night. Galloway says that there will not be another revolution in Iran. He says although there are differences of opinion about different politicians in Iran, but in his experience people overwhelmingly support the Islamic state. He says that there are dissenting voices and their views too are legitimate, and they are not all foreign agents, although there are foreign agents there.

The video showed an Israeli police using excessive force against a defenseless woman in front of a child while kicking a young boy who is detained minutes later, Press TV reported on Saturday. Meanwhile, a report released on Thursday by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) said that Israel has since 1967 detained about 750,000 Palestinians including some 12,000 women and tens of thousands of children. PCBS said that Israel currently holds some 6,000 Palestinians in prisons, including 35 women and 285 children. In addition, one or more members of almost every Palestinian family have been detained by the Israeli police. PCBS further said that more than 200 detainees have since 1967 been killed as a result of medical negligence, torture or murder by Israeli soldiers and prison guards. On Friday, about 12,000 Gazans staged a mass rally, which was called for by the democratically elected Hamas government, to express their solidarity with the Palestinians prisoners who are on a hunger strike for the second consecutive week in response to harsh measures used against them. �We will not rest until every Palestinian prisoner has returns to his family, we will continue our activities and resistance until we secure the release of all of our brothers and sisters who are being held captive by the Zionists,� one of the demonstrator told Press TV.

This was the last footage we received of Press TV correspondent Hassan Ghani reporting from the Freedom Wave, two boats led by groups from Canada and Ireland, attempting to break the siege on Gaza and get aid to the impoverished strip. Several hours later, Hassan tells us the boat is being surrounded. As we wrap up the conversation just 5 minutes later, the situation intensifies. That's the last we heard from Hassan. Israel raided the flotilla, and arrested those on board. They are now in Israeli jail. We spoke to Hassan's father Haq for the latest he's heard from his son. Hassan was also aboard the Mavi Marmara that was attacked by the Israeli Military, leaving nine people dead. He was arrested and warned never to return. This time he was on-board with former press TV journalist Jihan Hafiz who was reporting for U-S based democracy now and other journalists too. Gazan journalist and activist Sameh Habeeb says the Israeli action is all a part of the siege strategy. Israel had called the freedom wave a provocation and a threat to its national security. We contacted the foreign office who told us that a consular officer will be visiting Hassan again Sunday morning, that all detainees were moved quickly through the port and immigration to a detention center and that Hassan had called his arrest “extremely objectionable in principle”. They say it is very likely that Hassan will be deported from Israel soon. But for now he remains a journalist in an Israeli prison for no other reason than doing his job. And the status of those on board with him remains unclear.

[14 May 2012] Palestinian prisoners continue hunger strike - Middle East Today - English An estimated 1,600 to 2,000 Palestinian prisoners began an open-ended hunger strike on April 17. They do this to protest against Israel's administrative detention rules, the use of solitary confinement, maltreatment of sick detainees, and difficulty in securing family visits and strip searches that are imposed on visitors. Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh calls on Israel to release Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike to protest their detention. Arab League permanent representatives held an urgent meeting in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, to discuss the situation of Palestinian prisoners and hunger-strikers in Israeli jails

[02 April 2013] US acting criminally at Gitmo prison - English

A hunger strike by prisoners at the US-run Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba has entered its 100st day, amid national and international calls for the closure of the notorious prison. Nearly 130 out of a total of 166 inmates in the military detention and torture center were reported to be still on hunger strike on Friday. The strike began in February in protest to mistreatment by prison guards who intimidate the detainees by searching their personal belongings and deliberately mishandling their copies of the holy Qur\'an. Press TV has conducted an interview with Kamel Wazne, political commentator, about this issue. Follow our Facebook on: https://www.facebook.com/presstv Follow our Twitter on: http://twitter.com/presstv Follow our Tumblr on: http://presstvchannel.tumblr.com