Week 14: Ahmed Fareed Muhammad Shehadeh Palestinian political prisoner

It is possible for a prisoner to make the most of an appalling situation. One man who has done so has completed university studies and brightened his surroundings with his own ingenious works of art with his paintings which express his will not to surrender at any cost. That man is prisoner Ahmed Fareed Muhammad Shehadeh, 48, from Qalandiya refugee camp in Ramallah, is single and is the doyen of the prisoners from the camp.

He was arrested on 16 February 1985 and charged with belonging to Fatah, resisting the occupation and killing an Israeli spy. He was sentenced to life imprisonment; he has now spent more than half of his life in prison.

Ahmed Shehadeh was born in Qalandiya refugee camp in the summer of 1962. His family was driven out of its home in the village of Bir Ma’in in 1948. He attended UNRWA schools in Qalandiya and then studied at the Institute of Jericho, where he learned the blacksmith’s trade.

Prisoner Shehadeh developed his artistic skills in prison and his striking works of art hang in stark contrast to the usual drab prison interiors.