Gaza -

“To those behind the bars of darkness, who ignite their souls like butterflies of light illuminating their paths for the free, to the male and female prisoners in the prisons of the (Israeli) occupation, and support for the oppressed in all exiles..” Her short story collection "On the Mount of the Sun" is an embodiment of her character in support of the oppressed everywhere.

This story collection represents the first of a literary and humanitarian project that harnesses the faith of most of her time for it, and she says - to Al Jazeera Net - that one of her highest wishes is not to reach the end of the path of this project unless thousands of female prisoners and prisoners have embraced freedom.

Between the covers of this 103-page collection, Iman dealt with 20 stories of female prisoners in the occupation prisons, overflowing with a lot of pain, and each of them can be turned into a "dramatic artwork" that the faint-hearted cannot watch.

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The imprisoned child Ahmed Manasra, who is facing an “Israeli, political and legal conspiracy” these days, was the hero of one of these stories. Iman showed a deep affection for his story that began with his arrest in 2015 when he was a thirteen-year-old child. His cries, mixed with fear and innocence, filled the horizons : "I don't remember... I don't remember", confronting the arrogance of an Israeli investigator.

"His eyes do not stop pouring tears overflowing from them, as if they were volcanoes of sadness that could not contain paintings. Black eyelashes write a tale written by the night on the wings of a bird whose feathers have not yet grown, a chick is about to begin to learn to fly, childhood dreams are not like the dreams that come after them, and in There are only nightmares in prison.

This is how Iman portrayed the child Ahmed behind the bars of the occupation prisons: "His tears are still pouring out until they become a sea swallowed by darkness (..) but Ahmed is still steadfast, making boats (..) and his mother's voice slashing the prison bars as she strokes his hair: You are my son and my first hero. And the last one... only the tears that don't stop her will be answered by him."

This child faces an Israeli decision to classify his case under the "Terrorism Law", which is a "decision to kill him", as described by human rights organizations, due to the deterioration in his health and psychological condition that has reached dangerous stages.

Iman said that what Ahmed is facing is one of the many ugly faces of this occupation, which is fighting a "dirty battle" in which its political, judicial and security services participate against an innocent child.

Ahmed was born in the occupied city of Jerusalem in 2002, and his story dates back to 2015 when he and his cousin Hassan were shot by settlers, which led to the death of Hassan, and Ahmed was subjected to abuse and torture, and then he was arrested and sentenced to 9 years in prison, and he is currently in solitary confinement. In Ramle Prison.

Towards freedom..and the best

By combining horse riding and the sun as symbols of freedom and light, the writer Iman Al-Natour chose the name of her short story collection "On Riding the Sun", which is her second collection of stories out of 7 literary publications, which included 5 novels.

Although she deals with various issues in it, the issue of "advocating the oppressed" appears to be a clear focus of her work.

Iman describes her works as "characterized by humanism and rejection of racism, sectarianism and ethnicity," and says, "The stories of suffering, especially those related to women and children, attract me, and I commit myself to expressing them."

Writer Iman Al-Natour is working on the second edition of "On the Rise of the Sun" to complete the stories of a group of other prisoners (Al-Jazeera)

With this literary line that she drew for herself, Iman achieved “tangible achievements” within a few years, but she believes that she still has a long way to go to reach her goals, and to make an impact that pushes society towards the better.. She believes that this goal can only be achieved through partnership and concerted efforts. She is appreciated by the "Commission of Martyrs, Prisoners and the Wounded" in Gaza, and the "Arab Civilization Center for Publishing and Distribution" in Cairo, for sponsoring them to print her short story collection "On the Horses of the Sun".

The story "The Eagle and the Gun" - one of the stories of this group - won the short story prize in an Egyptian literary competition recently organized in Cairo, after reaching the final and competing with two stories by Egyptian and Saudi writers.

Iman is currently working on the completion of the second edition of the series "On the Rise of the Sun", in which the stories of a few other prisoners in the occupation prisons are completed, and she says, "I will continue to write about these martyrs, suspended with tears and pen ink, until they are freed from their prisons, the graves of the living." .

6 moons and night

“We are fighting for freedom... and we will get it,” the prisoner Zakaria al-Zubaidi, one of the six heroes in the epic “The Tunnel of Gilboa,” shouted in Hebrew, without caring about the handcuffs in his hands, and a prison sentence that may exceed several times the years of his life on this earth.

Iman called her story about these prisoners: "six moons and a night", and described their way through a tunnel in which they crawled from their cell in Gilboa prison towards freedom that did not last long, as "a carnation that cleaves the dust of the earth, glimpsing a light coming from afar."

"They are liberating... Victory for the heroes," but a voice rises from the rubble of the story, "Not yet, they are still in danger."

And Iman imagined that the occupation forces were able to arrest these six moons, and return them to prison again, at the end of a sad story in which she says, "The wind calmed and the sky kept talking about the legend of six moons. They returned to the dark again, but with every second they continued to make their paths for the free and defeat the restriction in Every moment that passes... they lead to victory, no matter how much time passes through a historical step immortalized by time."

A spokesman for the "Commission of Martyrs, Prisoners and Wounded Persons" in Gaza, Nashat al-Wahidi, described this story collection as "a qualitative addition to the national library," and told - to Al Jazeera Net - "It is important to document the struggle experience of thousands of female prisoners and prisoners who tasted the bitterness of arrest and the scourge of occupation prisons."