Mother arrested visiting child in Israeli prison

A Palestinian mother was arrested on Tuesday when she went to Israel’s Hasharon Prison to visit her 16 year old son. Shadad Al-Awar’s mother was detained in the waiting room of the prison on the pretext that she had forgotten to remove her mobile phone from her pocket, said the head of the Committee for Jerusalemite Detainees, Amjad Abu Asab.

“After the first search,” said Abu Asab, “the phone was found on the prisoner’s mother who protested that she had forgotten it was there.” The authorities, he added, refused to listen to her and insisted on holding her for questioning. She was taken to a police station in the Kfar Saba area. Neither her husband nor her five-month old baby were permitted to go with her. This was her first visit to see her son, who was arrested on 5 May.

The Israeli Central Court extended Al-Awar’s detention until the completion of the “legal procedures” against him. The prosecution rejected pleas to release him on bail under house arrest.