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Report: The reality of female prisoners in occupation prisons


Ramallah – Ma’an – The Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club said that the number of female prisoners in Israeli occupation prisons has reached (94) female prisoners (the female prisoners whose identities are known), and the majority of them are in (Damon) prisons. This number was recorded at the beginning of the war with the arrest of dozens of female prisoners from Gaza at the time and their transfer to (Damon) prison, while today there are three female prisoners from Gaza in (Damon) prison, including a mother and her daughter.

The Commission and the Club added that this figure for the number of female prisoners in the occupation prisons does not include all female prisoners from Gaza, specifically those who are detained in the camps affiliated with the occupation army, and the occupation authorities continue to carry out the crime of enforced disappearance against them.

The Commission and the Club continued in a joint report issued today, Monday, on the reality of female pr
isoners in the occupation prisons after more than 345 days of the war of extermination: The reality of the detention conditions of female prisoners has undergone major transformations, as have all the detention conditions in the occupation prisons and camps, after a series of systematic procedures, policies and crimes imposed by the prison system on all male and female prisoners since the beginning of the war of extermination, the most prominent of which were the crimes of torture, starvation, and medical crimes, in addition to a series of systematic abuse operations, specifically the process of their individual and collective isolation, and strip searches, which is a form of sexual assault, specifically during their detention in Hasharon Prison, which constitutes the harshest station at the beginning of the detention, and turning their special needs into a tool for abuse by depriving them of them.

Based on recent visits to Al-Damon prison, a group of cases and issues emerged that reflect the level of violat
ions and crimes committed against them. They are part of a series of serious cases and violations that have been committed against them in an unprecedented manner since the beginning of the war.

-The human rights prisoner Khalida Jarrar has been held in solitary confinement in Neve Terzia Prison for more than a month.

The occupation prison administration continues to isolate the human rights prisoner and activist Khalida Jarrar in solitary confinement (Tirzia Exile) in very difficult and oppressive conditions that affect her most basic human rights, and her suffering is renewed with the extension of her isolation order.

According to a new visit to prisoner Jarar, she noted that the prison administration informed her that her current isolation process will continue until September 27, without clarifying the specific period of her solitary confinement.

During her current isolation period, the prison administration deliberately cut off her water supply three times, and on one of them she remained without wat
er for two days. This is in addition to the prison guards deliberately delaying her meals, even though Jarar suffers from health problems and needs special food that suits her. The prison administration also delays responding to her request to bring her basic needs that she used during her detention in Al-Damon Prison. The prison administration deliberately keeps the lights on in the cell 24 hours a day, as Jarar has lost the ability to tell the time and the clock.

The occupation continues to detain prisoner Jihad Dar Nakhleh, a mother of four children and eight months pregnant:

The occupation authorities continue to detain the prisoner Jihad Dar Nakhleh from Jalazone camp in Ramallah, since (26) April 2024, on the basis of what the occupation claims is (incitement). When she was arrested, she was three months pregnant, and she is the mother of four children, the youngest of whom is a four-year-old girl. According to the medical reports that were conducted on her before her arrest, the prisoner Jihad suffer
s from anemia, and she needs special nutrition and increased health care.

The Commission and the Club stated that prisoner Dar Nakhleh is facing a difficult situation inside Al-Damon prison, and despite the efforts made by the institutions to release her, the occupation insists on detaining her, noting that Jihad has four other brothers detained in the occupation prisons.

-One of the female prisoners is facing a difficult psychological situation – the occupation insists on arresting her and doubles its crime by isolating her:

The prisoner (A.Y.) was arrested at the beginning of this year, as the pace of arrest campaigns continued to increase. She suffers from chronic depression and needs special care and follow-up around the clock. Despite the existence of medical reports proving her difficult psychological condition, the occupation continues to detain her until today, and has also doubled its crime by isolating her, which has greatly exacerbated her psychological condition. The Commission and the Club poi
nted out that the prisoner (A.Y.) is not the only prisoner who suffers from difficult psychological and health symptoms and needs special treatment and follow-up. There are several female prisoners who suffer from difficult health conditions and need special follow-up. Among them is the prisoner (Y.B.), who suffers from muscle atrophy and is in constant need of help from female prisoners. In addition to her suffering from severe intestinal problems, she needs a specific diet, and as a result of the unsuitability of the diet for her, this has led to her suffering from a severe loss in weight.

Overcrowding is one of the most prominent issues that has imposed double suffering on female prisoners.

The issue of overcrowding is one of the most prominent aspects of the suffering faced by prisoners, with the escalation of arrest campaigns targeting thousands after October 7th and targeting all categories, including women. The number of female prisoners has increased in an unprecedented manner compared to the period
before the war, as their number before October 7th was 40 female prisoners, while today their number has reached (94) female prisoners, after the recent release of two female prisoners: Tahani Al-Khawaja from Ramallah, and Fatima Basharat from Tubas.

The cell (room) designated to accommodate 6 female prisoners, today the minimum number in one cell is (10) female prisoners, as many of the female prisoners lie on the floor, which makes the movement of the female prisoners inside the cell difficult and impossible, even when they go out to the prison yard (the break), where every 25 female prisoners are taken out to the break, and the shower period is only available to them during the break.

The occupation detains (23) female prisoners administratively, while the majority of the other female prisoners are detained on the basis of what the occupation claims is incitement:

The occupation authorities are detaining (23) female prisoners administratively, including female students, who are the highest category in t
erms of targeting operations after the war. The majority of them were administratively detained, the last of whom were three female students from the Hebron Governorate who were transferred to administrative detention. Meanwhile, the occupation continues to detain the vast majority of female prisoners on the basis of what it claims is (incitement), which constitutes another aspect of administrative detention, as the occupation has escalated detention on the basis of (incitement) through the media and social media platforms, which have transformed from a tool for freedom of opinion and expression into a tool for repression. The occupation deliberately made the terms of what it claims is (incitement) vague, without clear definitions.

In addition to the female students targeted for arrest and detained in Al-Damon prison, there are female lawyers, journalists, activists, former prisoners, and mothers, including the mother of a martyr, mothers of prisoners and freed prisoners, and sisters of martyrs and prisoners
.

In light of the data that does not stop reflecting the level of difficult detention conditions and the systematic crimes practiced by the prison system by political decision against male and female prisoners in an unprecedented manner since the beginning of the war, we renew our demand for human rights organizations to overcome the state of helplessness, the meaning of which is multiplied with the continuation of the war of extermination, and its dangers to all of humanity and to the humanitarian role assigned to it are multiplied. In this regard, we affirm that the testimonies and statements documented by human rights organizations from prisoners and detainees, and what they reflected of crimes, including war crimes, constitute one aspect of the war of extermination that continues to this day.

Source: Maan News Agency