Palestinian prisoner in isolation struggles to recall language

Held in solitary confinement for two years, Dirar Abu Sisi exhibits health, speech problems, his lawyer says; prisoner says he is given rotten food

News agencies|Last update: 02.18.13 , 16:19

Dirar Abu Sisi, a Palestinian man held in an Israeli prison, is acquiring speech impediments, which his lawyer attributed to the prisoner's two-years-stay in solitary confinement, the Maan news agency reported Sunday.

The lawyer, appointed by the The Palestinians Prisoners Society, visited Abu Sisi Sunday and noticed he was having difficulties recalling language, and was exhibiting health problems.

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According to prisoners' rights group Addameer, Abu Sisi is the only prisoner who was excluded from a deal by which Israeli authorities vowed to end prolonged solitary confinement.

The deal, signed in May 2012, was made after Palestinian prisoners had launched a hunger strike, but Abu Sisi was nevertheless kept in an isolation cell, seeing as he was charged with developing Hamas' rocket capabilities, as part of his position as the technical director of the Gaza electricity plant.

According to Maan, the prisoner denies the allegations against him, but in interrogation excerpts obtained by Ynet in 2011, Abu Sisi described his work as an engineer for Hamas.

In February 2011, Abu Sisi was traveling on a train in the Ukraine with his wife, when she lost track of him. Train attendants told her that two men had taken him away.

A month later, after a gag order was partially lifted, Israel announced that Abu Sisi was facing trial in an Israeli court. He was later taken to a prison in Israel's south.

The lawyer with the Prisoners Society said that solitary confinement was taking its toll mentally on the prisoner, who told his lawyer that his notebook was confiscated and that he was given rotten food.