Ofer Prison

Ofer Prison

Entrance to the court. The sign: "Welcome to the Military Courts of the Judea and Samaria Region…" and the biblical quote: "judge with honesty and complete justice in your gates" (Zechariah 8:16)

Ofer Prison (Hebrew: כלא עופר, Kele Ofer), formerly officially known as Incarceration Facility 385 (מתקן כליאה 385‎), is an Israeli incarceration facility in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. It is one of three prison facilities along with Megiddo and Ktzi'ot, the latter two located in Israel and not in the West Bank. Ofer Prison is run by the Israel Prison Service and like the other two facilities, used to be operated by the Israel Defense Forces' Military Police Corps.

When under IDF control, it was capable of holding up to 800 prisoners, both tried and those under administrative detention.

NGOs have claimed that the imprisonment of children in Ofer Prison is one of the human rights abuses taking place at the prison.^[1]

History

Camp Ofer was founded in December 1968, at the location of a former Jordanian Army base from before the Six-Day War. It was named after lieutenant colonel Zvi Ofer, the commander of the Haruv Reconnaissance Unit, who was killed in action earlier in the same year.^{[citation needed]}

The prison was built in the base in 1988, after the onset of the First Intifada. Following the Oslo Accords, and the numerous prisoner releases of 1995, Ofer's remaining prisoners and detainees were moved to Megiddo Prison, and Ofer was closed.^[2]

It was officially re-opened on March 29, 2002, as part of Operation Defensive Shield. Its full construction was set to be completed on August 10, 2002.

On October 3, 2006, control of Ofer Prison was moved to the Israel Prison Service, making it the last incarceration facility for Palestinians to be moved to the IPS (although two detention centers in the West Bank are still controlled by the Military Police Corps).

Human rights abuses

Non-governmental organizations such has Machsom Watch have reported the imprisonment of children in Ofer Prison.^[1] A delegation of British MPs visiting the facilities alleged that handcuffing children was a human rights abuse.^[3] A delegation of British lawyers who also visited the facilities observed the use of iron shackles on children, which they considered to be in breach of Article 40 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the UN Standard Minimum Rules.^{[4][failed verification]}

Torture and death of Adnan al-Bursh

See also: Adnan al-Bursh

On April 19, 2024, Dr. Adnan al-Bursh, the head of orthopedics at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, died at Ofer Prison. He had been arrested by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli authorities did not notify his family and refused to disclose any details about his death. Fellow prisoners who knew him and had been released said that al-Bursh appeared badly tortured and starved before his death in custody.^[5] Palestinian authorities and advocacy groups have attributed his death to torture and mistreatment in custody, with the OHCHR confirming his body showed signs of torture.^[6]

Gideon Levy wrote in Haaretz that al-Bursh was tortured and beaten to death in an Israeli jail, and that the response of the Israel Prison Service—“The service does not address the circumstances of the deaths of detainees who are not Israeli citizens.”—was pure audacity.^[7]

Staff

As of 2006, Ofer Prison is staffed by the Israel Prison Service, which took control of it in 2006. The staff consists of jailors and officers, as well as a contingent of IPS's special unit, Rapid Response Unit (Keter), and interrogators from the Shabak.^{[citation needed]}

Before IPS, the prison was run by the IDF's Military Police Corps. The staff included soldiers who completed the Palestinian detainees' jailors (Hebrew: מטפלי עצורי השטחים, Metaplei Atzurei HaShtahim) course, including the Company for Special Tasks (abbr. Palmam). The prison as a whole was a battalion-level unit, commanded by a lieutenant colonel.^{[citation needed]}

Commanders

Ofer Prison is headed by Colonel Eran Fire.

References

1. "Ofer, Mon, 22.11.10, Morning". Archived from the original on April 29, 2013. Retrieved August 2, 2011.
2. Asher, Danny (April 2008). Red and Blue - A Corps's Story 1948-2008 (in Hebrew). Israeli Ministry of Defense. p. 112.
3. "Otherwise Occupied / Labour is concerned". Haaretz. December 13, 2010. Archived from the original on January 20, 2011. Retrieved August 2, 2011.
4. Sedley, S., Scotland, P., Oldham, F., Hildyard, M., Khan, J., Harrill, J., Lanchin, J., Davies, G., & Mason, M. Children in Military Custody, 2012 at 23 and 30. (Available at www.childreninmilitarycustody.org Archived August 2, 2018, at the Wayback Machine)
5. Jack Khoury, Bar Peleg: A Senior Gazan Doctor Died During Israeli Detention. Officials Refuse to Explain How. Haaretz, May 12, 2024.
6. "UN expert horrified by death of Gazan orthopedic surgeon in Israeli detention". Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. May 16, 2024. Retrieved May 18, 2024.
7. Gideon Levy: What About the Palestinian Hostages?Haaretz, May 16, 2024.

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