RAMALLAH: A Palestinian prisoner being held in solitary confinement is losing his ability to recall language, Ma'an News reports. Dirar Abu Sisi, the prisoner held in confinement, was visited by a lawyer from the Palestinian Prisoners Society who said that Abu Sisi is suffering from speech impediments. Abu Sisi, who is married to a Ukrainian woman and had just finished filing forms for citizenship, was traveling by train from Kiev to Kharkov when two men posing as Ukrainian secret service abducted him. After a gag order was loosened and he showed up in court it was revealed that Abu Sisi was being held in southern Israel. Israel maintains that he helped develop Hamas' rocket capabilities as the head of Gaza's only electrical plant. Both Hamas and Abu Sisi have stated that they have no affiliation. In May 2012, a deal was struck in which Israel would improve prisoner conditions and remove all prisoners from solitary confinement in order to end a mass hunger strike. Abu Sisi was the only prisoner excluded from this deal. In November 2012, his solitary confinement was renewed for another six months. His lawyer reports that he is brought rotten food and has had his notebook, in which he recorded his thoughts and feelings, taken away. Effects of Solitary Confinement The American Friends Service Committee, a peace advocacy organization funded by Quakers, lists the symptoms of solitary confinement as follows: * Visual and auditory hallucinations * Hypersensitivity to noise and touch * Insomnia and paranoia * Uncontrollable feelings of rage and fear * Distortions of time and perception * Increased risk of suicide * Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Concerning the mental well being of those interned as such, the group says that if one is not mentally ill when entering an isolation unit, by the time they are released their mental health has been severely compromised. Many prisoners are released directly to the streets after spending years in isolation. Because of this, long-term solitary confinement goes beyond a problem of prison conditions, to pose a formidable public safety and community health problem" and goes on to say that due to the definition proffered by the UN Convention on Torture, which is “any state-sanctioned act “by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person", solitary confinement qualifies as a violation of “basic" human rights BN
