On International Women's Day, which falls on March 8 of each year, the Palestinian Prisoners Club said that the Israeli occupation continues to detain 32 Palestinian female prisoners in Damoun Prison, including the 15-year-old girl Nafth Hammad from Jerusalem, the oldest of whom is Maysoon Musa from Bethlehem, sentenced to 15 years in prison, has been in detention since June 2015.
Among the female prisoners are 17 female prisoners who were sentenced for varying periods, the highest of whom is 16 years old, against the two female prisoners, Shurooq Dwaiyat from Jerusalem and Shatila Abu Ayyad from the occupied territories in 1948, and one female prisoner facing administrative detention, the prisoner Shurooq Al-Badan, and among them are 11 mothers, and they are: Israa Jaabis, And Amani Al-Hashim, Fadwa Hamada, Iman Al-Awar, Khatam Al-Saafien, Shatha Odeh, Shurooq Al-Badan, Fatima Alyan, Saadia Faragallah, Ataf Jaradat, and Yasmine Shaaban.
Wounded female prisoners
The Prisoners Club added that among the female prisoners, 6 were wounded, the most difficult of these cases is the prisoner Israa Jaabis, who suffers from severe deformities in her body as a result of severe burns, injuring 60% of her body as a result of the occupation soldiers shooting her vehicle in 2015, which caused a gas cylinder to explode in her vehicle.
The prisoner, Jaabis, needs a series of surgeries on the hands, ears and face, as she suffers over time from pain and permanent heat in her skin, which makes her unable to wear fabrics and covers, and she is in dire need of a special burn suit, which the prison administration refuses to provide, and even does not care To provide the lowest health conditions necessary for her, knowing that she lost 8 fingers on her hands.
It is noteworthy that she is sentenced to 11 years in prison, and is the mother of a child.
Conditions of Detention in "Damoon" Prison
The female prisoners face difficult living conditions in Damoun prison, including: the presence of cameras in Al-Fora Square, and the high level of humidity in the rooms during the winter period. Female prisoners are also forced to use blankets to close the bathrooms, and the prison administration deliberately cuts off the frequent electricity supply to them, in addition to the Busta. (The transfer of prisoners), which constitutes an additional journey of torture for them, especially for those who suffer from diseases, and most importantly, the policy of procrastinating in providing the necessary treatment to them, especially the injured.
Since the outbreak of the epidemic, the female prisoners have faced double isolation and have been deprived for periods of family visits (Al-Jazeera)
Methods of abuse and torture
In this context, the Prisoner’s Club confirmed that female prisoners are subjected to all kinds of abuse and torture that the occupation authorities pursue against Palestinian detainees, starting from arrest from homes to transfer to detention and investigation centers, and later their detention in prisons, pointing out that in 2019 the policy of torturing women was one of The most important policies that have returned to the fore compared to previous years, as their narratives are close to those of the first female captives about torture methods.
The methods of torture and abuse practiced by the occupation forces against female prisoners are represented in: shooting them during arrests, searching them naked, detaining them in cells that are not suitable for living, and subjecting them to interrogation for long periods accompanied by methods of physical and psychological torture, including: shabeh in various positions, shackles during the investigation period, and deprivation Sleeping for long periods, continuous interrogation, isolation, extortion and threats, preventing lawyers from visiting them during the investigation period, subjecting them to a lie detector, severe beatings such as continuous slapping, in addition to censorship orders issued by the occupation courts, and their families were subjected to abuse, arrest and summons as part of the punishment policy. collective.
The most prominent recent testimonies of torture was that of Talfa Nafth Hammad, who and her colleague Israa Ghatit were arrested from Jerusalem on December 8, 2021, and were subjected to abuse, beatings and torture from the moment of arrest until they were transferred to "Damoon" prison.
After transferring them to prisons, the occupation prisons administration implements a series of abusive policies and measures against them, including: medical negligence, denial of visits, and depriving female prisoners of open visits and embracing their children.
wide funnel
The month of December 2021 was an important and pivotal moment in the experience of the female prisoners, as the occupation prisons administration carried out a massive repression against them, and the most dangerous station was during which they were beaten and dragged, abused and isolating a group of them, in an attempt to target the arresting representation of them, which constitutes one of the most important achievements of the captive movement, and to impose more control and control measures on them.
The female prisoners at this station, with the support of all prisoners, were able to defend their rights, protect their achievements, and confront the prison administration.
The female prisoners are trying to devise effective tools to confront the prison structure, the most prominent of which is education.
Prisoners in the face of the epidemic
Since the spread of the epidemic, female prisoners have faced double isolation, and have been deprived of family visits for periods, like all prisoners, as the prison administration is trying to consolidate many of the exceptional measures it has taken since the beginning of the epidemic, which in essence constitute a set of violations.
At the beginning of this year, 7 female prisoners were infected with the Corona virus, during which they faced very difficult conditions, in light of the lack of necessary health care.
The Prisoners Club confirms that female prisoners, like all prisoners, face grave violations, as the occupation forces, with all their tools, try to violate their rights. For decades, despite repeated calls on several Palestinian levels to put an end to what the occupation is carrying out against them, its response has always been to escalate and impose more violations. their right.
It is noteworthy that the first female captive in the history of the Palestinian revolution is the prisoner Fatima Barnawi from Jerusalem, who was arrested in 1967 and sentenced by the occupation to life imprisonment, and released in 1977, that is, 10 years after her arrest, and the number of arrests of women since 1967 has reached more than 16,000, and the uprisings of 1987 and 2000 were two turning points with the increasing number of arrests among women.
From 2015 until the end of last year 2021, the occupation arrested about 1,100 women and girls, as the arrests were concentrated in Jerusalem, which witnessed a high level of confrontation, specifically in late 2015 (the popular uprising), as well as with the escalation of the confrontation in April and May May of the previous year.