There are at present about 81 women political prisoners in the Israeli jails: about 40 in Hasharon Prison (Tel Mond), about 38 in Damoon Prison (Carmel Mountain), 2 in Kishon Detention Center (Jalame), 1 in Neve Tirza Prison (Ramle) and the rest in several detention centers.
Transferring prisoners
The prison authorities continue the policy of transferring prisoners from prison to prison. On 25 June 2008, the prisoners who were held in wing 11 in Hasharon prison - about 37 prisoners -were transferred to Damoon Prison (Carmel Mountain).
Damoon Prison (Carmel Mountain)
The conditions in the cells
The women prisoners are held in three cells, in each cell 10 to 14 prisoners. There is only one tiny window, so there is no daylight, and it is very hot in the cells. They have ventilators, but they are not sufficient.
Studies
The matriculation exams (Tawjihi) will take place in July 2008. At the end of June 2008, the women prisoners who were transferred to Damoon did not know if the prison authorities would allow them to participate in the exams.
Hasharon Prison (Tel Mond)
Studies
Only in mid-May did the prison authorities permit to let the books for the matriculation exams into the prisons, and the women prisoners received the books about three weeks later - less than a month before the exams will take place.
Ahlam elTamimi, 24 years old, from Ramallah: The prison authorities prevent her sister from visiting her, claiming that she has to prove that she is her sister.
Ahlam does not get the letters sent by her husband who is also a political prisoner in an Israeli prison. The prison authorities are still prohibiting her from meeting him.
Nura elHashlamon, from Hebron, mother of six, an administrative detainee, was arrested on 17 September 2006. On 12 June 2008, the Israeli authorities extended her administrative detention to three additional months. On 16 June a military court confirmed, in camera, the extension of her administrative detention.
More about Nura elHashlamon
Mariam elTarabin, 20 years old, from Jericho, was arrested on 23 January 2005. On 19 June 2008 she was transferred from the isolation cell in Neve Tirza Prison to the separation wing in Hasharon Prison.
Khaula Zitawi, from Jam'ain, Nablus district, was arrested on 25 January 2007 and was sentenced to two years' imprisonment. Her daughter Ghada, two years old, stays with her. After Khaula and WOFPP's lawyer, Taghreed Jahshan, wrote letters demanding that Khaula's daughter Ghada stay with her, the prison authorities agreed to this request.
Sentences
Hiam elBiad, from elJalazun refugee Camp, Ramallah district, was arrested on 6 January 2007 and sentenced to two years imprisonment.
New Prisoners in Hasharon Prison
Faten elSa'adi, a Brazilian citizen, from Jenin Refugee Camp, graduated from the Open University in the West Bank. She was arrested on 8 May 2008 at an Israeli military checkpoint near Nablus and brought to Kishon Detention Center (Jalameh). At the beginning of June, she was transferred to Hasharon Prison.
Salwa Rizq Salah, 16,5 years old, from elHkader, Bethlehem district, was arrested on 5 June 2008. The Israeli authorities placed her under administrative detention.
Sara Yaser Syuri, 16,5 years old, from Hsan, Bethlehem district, was arrested on 5 June 2008. The Israeli authorities placed her under administrative detention.
Rudjina Janajarah, from Nablus, was arrested on 10 June 2008, a student in the Open University.
Releases
Dr. Maryam Salah, from elBira, 55 years old, a member of the Palestinian Parliament, was arrested on 12 November 2007. She was an administrative detainee and was released on 15 June 2008.
Shirin elHaj Husin, from Nablus, was arrested on 19 September 2006 and released on 15 June 2008.
Neve Tirza Prison
New Prisoners
Jamila Masbah, 46 years old, form elJib, Ramallah district, was arrested on 1 June 2008, with two of her sons, 15 and 16 years old. They were arrested on their way back from their field. One of Jamila's sons carried agriculture tools; the Israeli police and soldiers began beating him under the pretext that he intended to attack them with the tools. Jamila tried to intervene, and the police arrested her using violence and transferred her to the Russian Compound. She was injured and was brought to a hospital where she stayed until next morning, when she was brought back to the Russian Compound.
On 23 June, Jamila was transferred to Neve Tirza Prison (Ramle) She is held in isolation in a very small cell. She is prohibited from speaking with other prisoners, and she cannot speak with the guards because they do not speak Arabic.
Jamila was to be released on bail, and her family paid 10,000 NIS, but she was not released.
Kishon Detention Center (Jalame)
Abeer 'Amru, from Dura, Hebron district, arrested on 20 February 2001, was transferred to Damoon Prison where there are others women political prisoners.
New Prisoners
Samiha Mughrabi, 55 years old, mother of ten, from Nablus district, was arrested on 11 June 2008 and brought to the interrogation wing of Kishon Detention Center (Jalame). On 30 June she was still in interrogation. Samiha is being interrogated every day for more then 4 hours. During interrogation the interrogators tie her hand to a chair and curse and humiliate her. On 30 June 2008, WOFPP's lawyer, Taghreed Jahashan, visited her and saw the marks on Samiha's hand caused by the shackle.
The conditions under which she is being held are very harsh: There is no window in the cell. She has many health problems, among them a respiratory disease.
One of her sons is a political prisoner in an Israeli prison, and two others are detainees who were arrested a month before her for political reasons.
Releases
'Aysha 'Abayat, from Behlehem, was arrested on 30 May 2002 and released on 24 June 2008