Under pressure, Israel agrees to release pregnant Palestinian mother

Israel’s Ofer Military Court today agreed to release nine-month pregnant Anjhar Al-Deek, issuing 40,000 shekel ($12,500) bail and releasing her on house arrest, the Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners’ Affairs Authority said today.

Twenty-five-year-old Al-Deek is from the Kafr Ni’ma town west of Ramallah and has been imprisoned for five months on charges of attempting to carry out a stabbing attack near an illegal settlement outpost, however no verdict has yet been issued against her yet.

As her due date nears, an online campaign calling for her release has picked up pace, with a letter she sent her family adding to pleas for her release.

“What should I do if I give birth far from you? I am tied up, how can I give birth via caesarean section when I am alone in prison?” Anhar wrote in her letter to her family, adding: “I am exhausted, and I had severe pains in the pelvis and severe pain in my legs due to sleeping on the prison beds. I do not know how I want to sleep on it after my delivery operation.”

Anhar has been diagnosed with depression in detention and requires specialised treatment.

There are around 4,850 Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons, including 41 women, 225 children, and 540 administrative detainees – held without charge or trial, according to institutions concerned with prisoners’ affairs.

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