News / Palestine

Palestinian group: Transfer of elderly detainee to underground Israeli prison 'slow execution'

Thursday, 04 December 2025 9:14 PM [ Last Update: Friday, 05 December 2025 2:08 AM ]

75-year-old Palestinian detainee Mohammad Abu Tair

The Palestinian Prisoners’ Society (PPS), a Ramallah-based advocacy group, has condemned Israel's decision to transfer 75-year-old Palestinian detainee Mohammad Abu Tair to the underground "Rakevet" section of Ramla Prison, calling it a "slow-execution order" and part of a broader policy of mistreatment against Palestinian prisoners.

Abu Tair, a former member of the Palestinian Legislative Council from al-Quds, was arrested on November 19 during a raid on his home in Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank. His administrative detention, which is a practice allowing indefinite holding without charge or trial, was extended for four months just eight days later.

He has spent over 44 years in Israeli prisons across multiple detentions, primarily under administrative orders, and suffers from chronic health issues, including diabetes, high blood pressure, and psoriasis, which the PPS says were exacerbated by past incarcerations.

Israel revoked his al-Quds residency and expelled him from the city years ago, along with other al-Quds-based lawmakers.

The PPS stated that Abu Tair suffers from chronic health conditions, many of which it says stem from decades of detention.

The group holds the Israeli regime “fully responsible” for his life and safety.

The “Rakevet” section, an underground facility in Ramla Prison, was reopened after October 2023 and has primarily housed detainees from Gaza.

Former detainees and lawyers who visited the section have reported severe abuse and dire conditions there, according to the PPS.

The organization said Abu Tair is the first known West Bank detainee to be placed in the reopened underground unit.

The PPS noted that since the start of the genocide, the occupation decided to reopen the underground “Rakevet” section, which has "become a symbol of terror, torture, and slow killing against detainees from Gaza" with unprecedented atrocities documented by lawyers during visits to detainees.

Hamas condemns Israel for deaths of three Palestinian prisoners

Hamas says the latest deaths of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails amount to “further evidence of the systematic crimes” committed by the Zionist regime.

The PPS pointed out that no case had previously been documented of a detainee from the West Bank being held in this section since it was reopened after the genocide.

As of November 2025, Israel held 3,368 Palestinians in administrative detention, including several former lawmakers, the PPS reported. Nine former Palestinian parliament members are currently imprisoned.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk

Mohammad Abu Tair