Palestinian women political prisoners report harsh conditions in Israeli jails
RAMALLAH, March 1, 2020 (WAFA) — The Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs Commission said in a report today that Palestinian women political detainees in the Israeli prison of Damon, near Haifa, have been facing unbearable humanitarian and health conditions, including a deliberate policy of medical negligence.
The Commission said the women prisoners in Damon have been suffering at various levels, which include for instance the high humidity rate inside the prison rooms, the repeated power outages and the lack of doors for bathrooms.
The women prisoners are also suffering from the surveillance cameras recently installed at the yard of the prison, where the prisoners spend their daily 30-minute break, which compels conservative prisoners to remain in their Islamic wear to avoid being watched in an inconvenient clothing by male guards.
Another form of suffering reported by the Commission is the arduous journey the prisoners have to go through every time they are moved to courts, a journey that often lasts for more than 18 hours, during which the women prisoners are frequently exposed to verbal harassment and insults by Israeli criminal prisoners who are being moved in the same van in the way to the court.
The lack of medical care, both psychological and physical, is another and worse type of suffering for the women detainees, especially that some of the sick prisoners there require hospitalization at times. One of the prisoners, Israa Jaabis, has been in need of a surgery due to a serious injury sustained at the time she was arrested five years ago, but have received nothing so far.
There are some 5,000 Palestinian political prisoners incarcerated in Israeli jails for resisting the Israeli occupation of their homeland.
