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Israel keeps Palestinian legislator Khalida Jarrar in solitary confinement

August 21, 2024 at 1:30 pm

The Sde Teiman detention center in Kfar Yona, Israel on July 30, 2024. [Mostafa Alkharouf – Anadolu Agency]

The Israeli Prison Service continues to keep Khalida Jarrar, a leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), in solitary confinement, Al-Dameer Foundation for Human Rights has reported. According to Assabeel, Jarrar is being held at Neve Tirza Women Prison in Ramla and is in solitary for the seventh consecutive day.

Jarrar is being held under administrative detention, which means that she has faced neither formal charges nor a trial, and can be held indefinitely. She had been detained at Damon Prison throughout her detention until she was suddenly transferred to solitary confinement at Neve Tirza.

Her lawyer, who managed to visit her recently, said that the legislator is enduring extremely harsh conditions in isolation, exacerbated by the systematic abuse and restrictions imposed by the occupation authorities against prisoners since the onset of the comprehensive aggression and genocide that began on 7 October.

Al-Dameer noted that, on 8 August, the prison authorities raided Jarrar’s cell at Damon Prison, took her for interrogation, and placed her in a filthy, insect-infested cell where she was held for a day without being questioned. The following day, the authorities informed her of their intention to transfer her without disclosing her destination. Notably, they also prevented her from taking her spectacles. After about five hours in the “bosta” (prison transport vehicle), Jarrar arrived at the solitary confinement unit at Neve Tirza in Ramla Prison. Upon arrival, she was told that she was forbidden to meet her lawyer, and she remains unaware of the reason for her isolation or the duration of her confinement.

The legislator is currently held in an extremely small isolation cell, measuring no more than two square metres, containing only a mattress. The cell includes a tiny bathroom with a toilet and shower, and it is entirely sealed off without any ventilation, according to Al-Dameer.

The foundation reported further that the prison administration had sealed off the small openings in the bathroom window, the only source of air for Jarrar’s cell. She pointed out that the temperature in the cell is extremely high due to the lack of ventilation, and she is provided with very little water and extremely poor-quality food in small quantities. It should be noted that Jarrar suffers from health issues and requires a special diet. Since her first day in solitary, Jarrar has been denied time outdoors.

The political activist and legislator was arrested at her home in Ramallah at dawn on Tuesday, 26 December, last year. An administrative detention order was issued against her for six months, which was renewed for an additional six months and is set to expire in December.

The prominent human rights and feminist activist has previously spent nearly five and a half years in Israeli prisons, both under administrative detention and on formal charges. During her previous detention, Jarrar lost her daughter, who passed away without her mother being able to bid her farewell.

Al-Dameer highlighted that Jarrar is one of 86 Palestinian women prisoners held by the Israeli occupation in extremely harsh conditions, 19 of whom are held under administrative detention.

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