Since the beginning of the occupation
in 1967, approximately 10,000 Palestinian women have been arrested
and detained by Israeli forces. Currently, there are approximately
60 Palestinian females held in occupation prisons and detention
centers, including 10 female children and 3 administrative
detainees. In 2015, occupation forces arrested 106 Palestinian women
and girls, representing an increase of 70% compared with the number
of women and girls arrested in 2013, and an increase of 60% from
2014. During October 2015, an escalation began in the occupied
Palestinian territory in response to the Israeli occupation’s
widespread human rights violations and escalating incidents at
Al-Aqsa Mosque, as well as the ever-growing settlement activity and
alongside impunity to crimes by settlers, including the arson and
murder of the Dawabsheh family in Duma, Nablus on 31 July 2015. In
these recent events, Israeli occupation forces (IOF) intensified
human rights violations against Palestinians including mass
arrests, leading to a significant rise in the number of
Palestinian women and girls held in Israeli detention. Among those
arrested were 13 underage girls, some of them who were wounded at
the time of their arrest. Since the onset of 2016, 26
Palestinian women and girls have been arrested by occupation
forces.
Monthly figure of female Palestinian
prisoners inside Israeli prisons
ARREST AND DETENTION OF PALESTINIAN
WOMEN AND GIRLS
Palestinian women and girls are
regularly arrested from the streets, Israeli checkpoints, and during
violent night raids on their homes during military incursions,
accompanied with the presence of Israeli soldiers, intelligence
officers, and police dogs, during which destruction of household
items and property damage takes place. They are subsequently
forcibly taken to a military jeep, where they are blindfolded and
their hands are tied behind their backs, and where they are
subjected to torture and ill-treatment. In her testimony to
Addameer’s attorney, Jureen Qadah, who was arrested in October
2015, described her arrest after a raid on her home
.
On Thursday, 29/10/2015, a large
number of IOF forces raided the home of Qadah family in Shuqba at
2:00 AM. After identifying Jureen (19 years old), the soldiers
shackled her hands, blindfolded her and arrested her. Jureen stated
that a female soldier pushed her to the ground causing a painful leg
injury. Jureen told Addameer’s lawyer during a visit in Ramleh
prison that the IOF detained her for about 18 hours in a military
jeep, taking her from one place to another, in inhumane conditions
before taking her to HaSharon. On the next day she was taken to
Ramleh prison again and then to Ofer where she was interrogated. The
interrogation lasted for half an hour, and it revolved around her
posts on Facebook. Afterwards, she was transferred back to HaSharon
prison. On 1 November 2015, a three-month administrative detention
order was issued against her.
Upon arriving to the interrogation or
detention center, female Palestinian detainees are routinely denied
an explanation of their rights and the reason for their detainment.
Often, they are denied attorney access, and kept for several days or
months under interrogation where they are subjected to torture and
ill-treatment. The methods of torture and ill-treatment used against
female Palestinian prisoners cause severe physical and mental
suffering. Interrogation methods include prolonged isolation from
the outside world, inhuman detention conditions, excessive use of
blindfolds and handcuffs, sleep deprivation, denial of food and
water for extended periods of time, denial of access to toilets,
denial of access to showers or change of clothes for days or weeks,
being forced into stress positions, yelling, insults and
cursing, and sexual harassment.
DETENTION CONDITIONS OF FEMALE
PRISONERS
Abuses against Palestinian female
prisoners and detainees inside Israeli prisons continue despite the
Israeli government’s obligations under the Convention Against
Torture to ban cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. Addameer has
documented numerous cruel acts committed by Israeli Occupation
Forces (IOF), Israeli interrogators, and even medical staff against
female Palestinian prisoners. Addameer documentation indicates that
Palestinian women and girls frequently report denials of basic
rights including health services, food and water, strip searches as
a punitive measure, unsanitary confinement conditions, and sexual
assault. The dehumanizing and degrading experiences that Palestinian
women and girls are subjected to leave a long-term impact on their
psychological, physical, and mental wellbeing.
Marah Bakeer, a 16-year-old girl from
the city of Jerusalem, was arrested on 10 October 2015, after she
was shot 10 times in her left arm by an Israeli soldier. Marah was
not carrying anything, and when the soldier asked her to raise her
hands, she did so, but he pushed her which made her fall on the
ground. When the police attended the scene, a police officer pushed
her to the ground again, causing her to hit her head with the
ground. The police officer started searching her body with his
hands, took her headscarf off and took her clothes off until he
reached the underwear.
She was later transferred in an
unprofessional manner by an ambulance to Hadassah Ein Karem, while
she was left naked despite her requests to cover her body. Later, an
investigator from the police attended the hospital, while she was
naked and her body bleeding, and asked her if she tried to stab a
soldier, which she denied. Later she was forced to enter the
operating room without being informed of the nature of the operation
or her medical status. She was then put in a room, with her hand and
leg tied to the bed all the time, with the presence of two male
guards, who cursed her and her mother repeatedly. One of the guards
told her to die, and another guard took a ‘selfie’ with her
against her will.
Marah was taken to the court on a
wheelchair with the legs cuffed, and currently she is suffering from
fractures in her arm. Marah was transferred to Ashkelon prison on 20
November 2015, where the prison conditions were poor and where she
was subjected to medical neglect. She was later transferred to the
section for criminal prisoners in Ramle prison.
SOLITARY CONFINEMENT AND ISOLATION OF
FEMALE PALESTINIAN PRISONERS
Palestinian female prisoners are subjected to isolation and solitary
confinement within Israeli detention and prison centers, which has
long-term psychological effects on those subjected to this punitive
measure. The practice is a historic one, as Israeli forces have
utilized the policy of isolation since 1967. Currently, the Israeli
Prison Service exercises the policy of isolation based on the
recommendation of the occupation intelligence services. Prisoners in
isolation report anger, stress, boredom, losing a sense of reality,
difficulty concentrating, sensitivity to stimuli and hallucinations.
Based on mental health research, the rates of psychological and
psychiatric problems are higher among those exposed to solitary
confinement than among others.[1] A 2008 study conducted by Addameer
and Physicians for Human Rights – Israel found that Palestinian
prisoners are placed in isolation under purported security measures
or as a result of mental illness, and that solitary confinement is
used as a disciplinary measure during interrogation and
imprisonment. The study also found that “isolation causes mental
and physical damage, both among mentally healthy prisoners and among
prisoners with a history of mental illness.”[2] The practice of
isolation continues, and is applied to Palestinian female prisoners
and detainees, even prior to any convictions.
Rawan Abu Ziyada, a 23 year old woman
from Ramallah, was arrested on 15 July 2015, for allegedly trying to
stab an Israeli soldier. Rawan was transferred to Hasharon in
mid-December, and on 13 January 2016 she was summoned by the
Intelligence Office in the prison, which she refused. A disciplinary
hearing was held the following day, leading to a decision to place
her in isolation for a week. She was additionally denied visitations
for two months and was subjected to provocation by interrogators.
TRANSFER
Palestinian girls and women in Israeli
detention are subjected to an exhausting and degrading transfer
process between the place of their arrest, and the interrogation or
detention center, and from their prison to and from the court. They
are placed in uncomfortable seating, after being placed in a mavar,
a cage-like holding place before the time of their transport. During
the transport, which often takes several hours, they are denied
access to restrooms. Excerpts from the affidavit of Palestinian
Legislative Council member Khalida Jarrar, who suffers from multiple
ischemic infarctions and hypercholesterolemia, describe the mentally
and physically exhausting transfer process.
On April 29, 2015 at around 2:15 am,
the guards entered the cell to woke us up to go to court. I was with
prisoner H. We woke up and prepared ourselves to go to Ofer military
court. At 3:30 they took us out of the section after shackling our
hands and legs. It should be mentioned that according to the medical
report they should put the shackles over the clothes on the wrists.
The Nahshon forces did not do that, but they did not tighten the
shackles.
H. and I entered the Nahshon vehicle
and sat in a 1.5 x 0.5 meter space (a cell inside the vehicle). We
sat on leather chairs opposite to each other and then the cell’s
door was closed. This was at around 3:45. The vehicle moved at
around 5:00 am. We sat inside the car for an hour and 15 minutes
without moving. We arrived at Ramleh at 5:30. We were
taken to a huge Nahshon vehicle, the cell inside it was 50 x 80 cm.
There were other prisoners with H. and I (political prisoners and
criminal prisoners).
The seats were very small and made of
iron. We were forced to sit in a 90 degree angle because otherwise
we couldn’t fit. We couldn’t move at all while sitting, and the
cell had surveillance camera. The distance between
HaSharon and Ramleh, “the waiting area” is an hour and a half
drive. And from Ramleh “waiting area” to Ofer military court is
45 minutes drive. We stayed in the car from 5:30 until around 8:45.
…
At 3:45 I was taken to the court room,
and back to the cell at 4:30. At 7:15 the Nahshon forces came to
take us in order to transfer us back to prison. A female Nahshon
officer shackled us and tightened them. I told her that she should
put the shackles over the clothes as it is written in the report
(one of the Nahshon officers said earlier that if something is
written in the report they will do it, but if it’s not they
won’t). When they read the officer loosened the shackles but she
refused to put them over the clothes.
When we arrived to the cell in the
Bosta vehicle, it was very warm. After a long argument with the
prisoners and the Nahshon forces they put a fan... The vehicle moved
at 8:00. At 8:45 we arrived at Ramleh waiting area. Here more
suffering began. We stayed inside the car’s cell until 11:15pm.
During that time we didn’t have access to a bathroom or clean air.
We weren’t even allowed to rest our bodies. Our bodies were
hurting severely because of sitting in the same place for hours
without moving. The prisoners started knocking heavily on the doors
to the point that the car started shaking but no one came to see
what was going on. Of course this was done on purpose. The prisoners
were held in small iron cells like animals which is torture by
itself.
We reached the
prison at 11:50. The Nahshon forces took us to the room, a man
unshackled us… Our legs were shackled from the beginning of the
journey until the end. Our hands were unshackled only at the cell in
Ofer and inside the court. [3]
CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS: FEMALE
PALESTINIANS ARRESTED IN CONTEXT OF OCCUPATION
Israel is accountable for its actions
in the occupied territories, including West Bank checkpoints,
particularly the ill-treatment of women during arrests and
transfers. Article 12 of General Recommendation 28 by the Committee
on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women on the Core
Obligations of States Parties states that:
“Although
subject to international law, States primarily exercise territorial
jurisdiction. The obligations of States parties apply, however,
without discrimination both to citizens and non-citizens, including
refugees, asylum-seekers, migrant workers and stateless persons,
within their territory or effective control, even if not situated
within the territory. States parties are responsible for all their
actions affecting human rights, regardless of whether the affected
persons are in their territory.”[4]
In its General
Recommendation No. 30 on women in conflict prevention, conflict and
post-conflict situations, the Committee confirms the aforementioned
paragraph, stating, “… the obligations of States parties also
apply extraterritorially to persons within their effective control,
even if not situated within their territory, and that States parties
are responsible for all their actions affecting human rights,
regardless of whether the affected persons are in their territory”.
[5]
The previous
testimonies highlight the brutality of the arrest process as well as
the detention conditions for female Palestinians prisoners inside
Israeli interrogation, detention and prison centers and even
hospitals while in custody. The abuse, ill-treatment, and torture of
Palestinian women and girls take place within the context of ongoing
occupation and annexation of Palestinian lands. The imprisonment of
women and girls is a practice used by the Israeli government to
repress Palestinian women across sections of society, including
students, mothers, political leaders, and children. In the
Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against
women, States Parties emphasize “that the eradication of
apartheid, all forms of racism, racial discrimination, colonialism,
neo-colonialism, aggression, foreign occupation and domination and
interference in the internal affairs of States is essential to the
full enjoyment of the rights of men and women”. [6]
- See more at:
http://www.addameer.org/publications/occupied-lives-imprisonment-palestinian-women-and-girls#sthash.RigIDj2y.dpuf
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