The conditions of detention of Palestinian women political prisoners at Damoun prison

Newscast 20 December 2021

– Tuesday (14/12/2021) at nine o’clock in the evening, and by provocation, the prison administration asked the representative of the prisoners, Marah Bakir, without notice and in this late hour to take the prisoners out of one of the rooms and to empty it of the prisoners’ belongings. The prisoners objected to this decision and asked to negotiate with the prison administration the next morning.

– At exactly midnight 30, the administration cut off the electricity to the whole section and a large force of repression units entered and stormed the aforementioned room, despite the request of the prisoners’ representative to the administration to withdraw these units and that the prisoners will leave this room of their own free will. The administration refused this proposal and the physical violence continued against them (beating, very violent traction) to force them to integrate separate rooms.

On the other hand, the Palestinian detainees of the other rooms knocked on the doors in protest against these aggressions, and when the repressive forces prepared to spray the department with gas, the detainees stopped, given the state of health and illness of some of them.

The next day, wednesday 15/12/2021, at 14:30, the repressive forces stormed again in large numbers and the electricity was cut off under the pretext of conducting a search of the rooms. They confiscated all the eclectic devices of the prisoners and brought to solitary confinement in addition to the representative (Shorouk Dwaiya) and her assistant (Marah Bakir) three prisoners: Mona Qaadan, Yasmine Jaber and Ruba Assi.

Then they moved all the rooms by force and assaulted the prisoners

– As a result, the prisoners knocked on the doors in protest the aggression against them and the arbitrary transfer.

– After the withdrawal of the repressive forces, they brought the two prisoners, Yasmine Jaber and Ruba Assi, back to the department, but the isolation continues for Marah Bakir, Shorouk Dwaiyat and Mona Qaadan, until this moment.

– The isolated prisoners are on unlimited hunger strike from the first moment.

– All inmates were judged in absentia, with a one month ban on visits and a one month ban on canteen, and the detainees Maysoon, Nourhan, Shorouk, Malak and Marah were given a double sentence and a financial penalty.

– The department has been closed by the administration to the women prisoners until now, preventing them from showering for 3 days.

The women prisoners were informed about the intention of the Prison Authority to transfer the section of prisoners from a security section to a civil section and to abolish the representation of women prisoners.

– During a visit to inspect the doors of the rooms, the detainees were surprised by the presence of a guard(male) with the other women-guards, which is a flagrant violation of the inmates’ dignity and privacy.

It was forbidden to accompany one prisoner to another one on the way to the clinic or hospital.

– There is a constant threat to spray the inmates with gas at any discussion or objection on their part.

In general, the situation of prisoners is as follows to date (December 20, 2021):

There are 3 female prisoners who are still in isolation, they are Marah Bakir, Shorouq Douyan and Mona Qaadan.

The section is closed to women prisoners, and they cannot leave the rooms.

The inmates have returned several meals a day to protest against the isolation of their comrades and their lack of information about them.

The prison is in a state of tension and fears that the repressive forces will again attack the women prisoners.