Israel holds 10 Palestinian girls in harsh prison conditions

Human rights sources said yesterday that 35 Palestinian females are still being held in Israel’s HaSharon Prison, 10 of whom are girls under the age of 18. They named the minors as Iman Ali, Merah Jaidah, Isra Jabir, Lama Al-Bakri, Amal Kabaha, Manar Shweiki, Malak Al-Ghalith, Hadiya Arinat, Malak Souleiman and Noor Zerikat.

The Palestinian Commission for Detainees’ and Ex-Detainees’ Affairs pointed out that the prisoners are suffering from harsh conditions. Like other detainees, they are subjected to flagrant violations of their rights, such as medical negligence, solitary confinement and constant incursions into their rooms.

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The official human rights organisation noted that Israel’s Nahshon Forces, which guard prisoners and transfer them between the courts and prisons, beat women while they are being transferred and abuse them verbally. The Israeli authorities, the commission added, have also installed CCTV in women’s prisons, violating their right to privacy.

In total, Israel is holding 58 Palestinian females in prison. The Palestinian Prisoners’ Centre for Studies said that the occupation authorities issued 17 administrative detention orders against Palestinian women during the 2015 uprising in Jerusalem. The prisoners targeted by such orders are being held with neither charge nor trial.

Read: Israel arrests 84 Palestinian women and girls in 2017

According to the Human Rights Centre NGO, the use of administrative detention orders violates the principles of international law. Israel, it alleges, uses administrative detention as a means of collective punishment. The Palestinian Authority has been called upon to take this issue to the International Criminal Court.