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Jordan Says Concerned About Prisoners Inside Israeli Jails
By Chinaview.cn
August 24, 2004
Photo By Ali Jarekji/Reuters for Yahoo News
Amman, Jordan -- The Jordanian government said on Monday that it put the issue of Jordanian detainees in Israeli jails a priority on its working agenda.
Government spokesperson Asma Khodr told a press conference that Amman would shoulder full responsibility for the issue of prisoners and hoped to achieve positive results in this regard.
Some 70 Jordanian prisoners are still held in Israeli jails after Israel freed 10 Jordanian prisoners last November as a goodwill gesture for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr.
Jordan had expected Israel to release up to 20 other prisoners earlier this year on occasion of a visit to Amman in January by Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom but the visit was cancelled at the last minute.
Also on Monday, hundreds of Jordanians staged a mass protest before the UN office in Amman to show support for the Palestinians and Jordanians detained by Israel.
Brandishing slogans and pictures, the protesters demanded the international community exercise pressure on Israel to respect the fourth Geneva Convention on human rights and prisoners of war.
According to a statement obtained by which, the protesters called for the release of all prisoners, especially women and children.
There are about 98 women as well as 2,500 children held in Israeli prisons, some of whom are administrative detainees being imprisoned without charges or trials.
Thousands of Palestinian prisoners started an open-ended hunger strike in Israeli jails last Sunday to protest the ill treatment by the prison authorities.
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