Gaza hospital chief Abu Safia detained, tortured in Israeli jail

The director of Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital has been subjected to various forms of intense torture and inhumane treatment in an Israeli military prison, his lawyer told Al Jazeera.

The 51-year-old Hussam Abu Safia was detained in Gaza by the Israeli army  in December and taken to Sde Teiman military detention camp in Israel’s Negev Desert, before being transferred to Ofer Prison, located near Ramallah.

He was “arrested by force, handcuffed and forced to take off his clothes after being taken from the hospital to one of the army camps”, said Samir al-Mana’ama, a lawyer with the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights who visited him in Ofer Prison on Tuesday.

Al-Mana’ama said that Abu Safia suffers from “an enlarged heart muscle and from high blood pressure” and was beaten up and refused treatment for the heart condition.

Transferred to Ofter Prison on 9 January, he was held in solitary confinement for 25 days and interrogated nonstop by the Israeli army, Israeli intelligence and police, the lawyer added.

“Despite denying all the charges against him, he was beaten with an electric stick by the Israeli army so as to extract a confession from him,” said the lawyer.

There was “no legal justification” for Abu Safia’s arrest, the lawyer said, adding that “any accusation needs evidence and as long as there is no evidence, there is no real complete accusation against Doctor Hussam.”