Federman to be Transferred to Ashkelon

Arutz 7 ^ | 12/11/2003 | staff

[Nachum]

Noam Federman's desperate struggle has been crowned with success - after more than two difficult months. Israel Prison Service officials arrived in his cell and asked him to sign his consent to be transferred out of Ashmoret Prison - something that he has been demanding since the beginning of his administrative detention in mid-September. In exchange, Federman agreed to stop the hunger strike he began well over seven weeks ago.

Noam's wife Elisheva told Arutz-7's correspondent today that "for some reason, they don't do transfers on Thursdays or Fridays, and so it will happen at the beginning of next week." She also said that they promised her and their seven children an open visit with Noam today, for the first time in a very long while, "and I hope that they do not disappoint us and change their minds at the last second." Elisheva said that regarding the transfer itself, "it will be pretty hard for them to renege, since it has been reported quite widely in the press." She then had to terminate the conversation, in order to begin her two-hour journey from Hevron to Netanya for the noontime visit.

The officials said that in his new facility, the Ashkelon Prison, he will be permitted to make phone calls to his family and to have visits - conditions that have been denied to him in the Ashmoret Prison. In addition, he will no longer have to be housed adjacent to Arab terrorists, whose threats to kill him he often heard through the prison cell walls, but rather next to common criminals. It is assumed that he will also, for the first time, be given food with the Badatz kosher certification that he has requested.

The Shabak's (General Security Service) change of mind regarding Federman's harsh prison conditions was apparently the result not only of Federman's hunger strike, but also the heavy public pressure that was brought to bear in the past number of weeks, culminating with yesterday's session in the Knesset Law Committee. Both Elisheva and MK David Azulai of Shas testified as to the sub-human conditions in which he was placed. In response to vague promises by Israel Prison Service officials that Federman's conditions would be improved, Committee Chairman MK Michael Eitan (Likud) said that he would personally monitor the implementation of these improvements.

In the framework of the administrative detention, a leftover emergency procedure from the British before 1948, Federman has not been charged with a crime, nor is he permitted to know the nature of the charges against him, if any. His wife told Arutz-7's Ruti Avraham yesterday that the committee had intended to deal with the problematic nature of administrative detention itself, but did not have time because of the intensive attention paid to the torturous conditions under which her husband was being held.

[wildbill]

Presumably there is a reason for this post on this site--but the article doesn't give it.

[Nachum]

The article is demonstative of the governement attack on settlers in the territories. It also shows the use of "administrative detention".

Does the "Patriot Act" ring a bell?

[jim35]

What this is about, I have no idea. Who is this, and why is he on "administrative detention?"

[Nachum]

Noam Federman is a settler in the commnity of Chevron that has been singled out for attacks by the Israeli government. They have arrested Federman to "punish" those who live there. It is a form of ongoing intimidation.

[jim35]

I see. Thank you. How can they treat one of their own like that, when the real enemy is so clear and present?

[wildbill]

I bet everyone in Israel knows the actors and the circumstances--but no one here does, and the article didn't give any enlightenment, just that he was detained.