PLO official calls on Red Cross, WHO to force Israel to release Palestinian prisoners to protect them from Coronavirus

Headline: “Rafat: We call on the World Health Organization to intervene with the occupation in order to release the prisoners”

“[PLO Executive Committee member and] Secretary-General of the Palestinian Democratic Union FIDA Saleh Rafat said that the occupation authorities’ refusal to release the prisoners is a criminal act.He said: ‘The statement of the [PA-funded] Prisoners’ Club regarding Coronavirus patients among some prisoners in the Israeli prisons – and particularly the Megiddo Prison – puts the international community face-to-face with its legal and moral obligations.’

He added: ‘Given the increasing danger in the Israeli prisons as a result of the chance that the disease will be transmitted to the prisoners,we call on the Red Cross, the World Health Organization, and the relevant institutions for prisoners’ rights and human rights to intervene with the occupation state in order to immediately release the male and female prisoners, and particularly those who are sick, the elderly, and the children.’”

Saleh Rafat also holds the position of head of the PLO Military and Security Department.