Infants craving for freedom, mothers detained

Translated by: Saed Bannoura

The cries and screams of Wael, the baby child of Mirvat Taha, a political detainee, imprisoned in an Israeli detention camp, were not enough to convince the soldiers that the child needs some fresh air.

Wael, less than two years old, lives with his detained mother since his birth, while soldiers refuse to treat him as an infant.

Hanan Al-Khateeb, a lawyer at the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society said that Mirvat, the mother, is not allowed to take her son out of her room except in special periods where the detainees are allowed to leave their rooms for short periods of time.

Al-Khateeb said that the infant needs to leave the cells and apparently is feeling bored inside the room unable even to see or know how it feels to be “outside”.

“He needs fresh air, but the administration is treating the infant as any other detainee”, Al-Khateeb said.

Al-Khateeb added that the child is getting weak especially after army continuously rejected the entry of infant food to the prison, in addition to banning the entry of toys.

The mother of the infant appealed the humanitarian organizations to interfere and help her and the detained mother in order to receive the needed food and materials for their children.

Detainee Amal Allan said that prison administration barred Mirvat from hugging her other child, Taha, 3 years old, or even touch him during visitation.

Allan added that there are three under-aged female detainees living in detention and facing hard condition as the other detainees; the three girls are Hiba Jaradat, Aya Oweis and Rasha Al-Azza.

Moreover, Allan said that a military unit in the prison called “Boger”, continuously raid the cells without any prior notice which is a direct invasion of privacy of the detainees, especially the detainee who wear the head-veil.

“Even when we are allowed to leave our rooms, they divide us, and bar us from communicating with the other female detainees in other branches, female detainees are also bared from doing any handcraft work”, Allan added.

Lena Jarbouty, representative of female detainees in Al-Ramlah detention, said that the detainees will strike again of the administration does not fulfill its promises which are reassembled in removing the glass barriers between the detainees and their families, and allow room visitations in addition to allowing the entry of food of clothes and allowing the detainees to be together when they are allowed to leave their rooms instead of dividing them to separated groups.

“If the negotiations aren’t successful, we will return to the open-ended hunger strike, our conditions haven’t changed, the administration did not fulfill its promises”, Jarbouty added.

Detainee Lena Sarahna said that army is not allowing her to have visitations since two and a half years, and before she was barred from visitations she was not allowed to hug her child during visitation and have been barred from meeting with her imprisoned husband, or even sending him messages.

The husband is detained at Nafha detention camp.

Sarahna added that the administration even control the quantity of clothes which is allowed to enter, in addition to barring the detainees from receiving medical treatment.

Sarahna is currently suffering from a disease in her glands, and is loosing her hair while army rejects to send her to a hospital and receive the needed medication and treatment.