Guest on PA TV: "we are accusing the prison administration and the Israeli government of performing experiments on the prisoners"
Official PA TV News interviewed Hilmi Al-Araj, director of the Hurriyat (“Freedom”) Center, on the released prisoner Na'im Al-Shawamreh, who is suffering from muscular dystrophy.
PA TV host: “Mr. Hilmi, I want to ask you specifically about the information you gave us, that [released prisoner Na’im] Al-Shawamreh received a type of medicine, which you described as the wrong kind – several media outlets described this mistake as an intentional move on the part of the occupation prison administration; that is, this type of medicine was given to him intentionally, to make it appear, to the media, as if Al-Shawamreh was healthy and able to walk.”
Director of the Hurriyat (“Freedom”) Center Hilmi Al-Araj: “Yes, we are accusing the prison administration and the Israeli government of performing experiments on the prisoners. That is what Israeli Parliament Member and former Health Minister Dalia Itzik made public when she said that over a thousand medical experiments were being carried out on prisoners each year.”
Note: This is not the first time the PA has claimed that former Speaker of Israeli Parliament and MP Dalia Itzik asserted that Israel conducts medical experiments on Palestinian prisoners. Reporting on this libel in 2008, PMW checked with then Israeli-Parliament Speaker Dalia Itzik and the Ministry of Health. The following are their responses:
Office of Israeli Parliament Speaker Dalia Itzik: "[Israeli Parliament] Knesset Speaker Itzik never made the statements attributed to her. Speaker Itzik is certain that incidents of this kind do not occur in Israel; this is not how Israel conducts itself." [2007]
Ministry of Health's Response: "Clinical testing on prisoners in prison was never approved, never performed, and is most certainly not taking place at present." [2007]
Na’im Al-Shawamreh – was arrested on March 14, 1995 for placing the explosive device that killed Yossi Hayoun, a police sapper, while he was defusing the bomb (June, 1993). Al-Shawamreh was serving a life sentence but was released in December 2013 as one of the 104 terrorists whom Israel agreed to release to fulfill the PA's precondition for renewing negotiations.
PA TV host: “Mr. Hilmi, I want to ask you specifically about the information you gave us, that [released prisoner Na’im] Al-Shawamreh received a type of medicine, which you described as the wrong kind – several media outlets described this mistake as an intentional move on the part of the occupation prison administration; that is, this type of medicine was given to him intentionally, to make it appear, to the media, as if Al-Shawamreh was healthy and able to walk.”
Director of the Hurriyat (“Freedom”) Center Hilmi Al-Araj: “Yes, we are accusing the prison administration and the Israeli government of performing experiments on the prisoners. That is what Israeli Parliament Member and former Health Minister Dalia Itzik made public when she said that over a thousand medical experiments were being carried out on prisoners each year.”
Note: This is not the first time the PA has claimed that former Speaker of Israeli Parliament and MP Dalia Itzik asserted that Israel conducts medical experiments on Palestinian prisoners. Reporting on this libel in 2008, PMW checked with then Israeli-Parliament Speaker Dalia Itzik and the Ministry of Health. The following are their responses:
Office of Israeli Parliament Speaker Dalia Itzik: "[Israeli Parliament] Knesset Speaker Itzik never made the statements attributed to her. Speaker Itzik is certain that incidents of this kind do not occur in Israel; this is not how Israel conducts itself." [2007]
Ministry of Health's Response: "Clinical testing on prisoners in prison was never approved, never performed, and is most certainly not taking place at present." [2007]
Na’im Al-Shawamreh – was arrested on March 14, 1995 for placing the explosive device that killed Yossi Hayoun, a police sapper, while he was defusing the bomb (June, 1993). Al-Shawamreh was serving a life sentence but was released in December 2013 as one of the 104 terrorists whom Israel agreed to release to fulfill the PA's precondition for renewing negotiations.
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