"Interrogation was psychological torment; hearing sounds of people being tortured, other people laughing and saying: ‘we confessed and they gave us cigarettes’. I am a smoker and they did not allow me to smoke."
"I was the only political prisoner among convicted criminals. While I was in prison, my husband divorced me and kept my son away from me. The other prisoners used to taunt me about my son."
Name: SUNA AL RA’I
From: Qalqilya (West Bank)
Date of birth: 11/12/1968
Age at arrest: 29 years old
Number of children and age of children when arrested: 1 child (4 years old)
Formal charge: Tried to shoot an Israeli soldier at Allenby Bridge (Israeli controlled border between Jordan and the West Bank)
Sentence: 12 years
Period spent in prison: 11 years and 6 months
Period of interrogation: 1 month
Time spent in detention/prison before first lawyer’s visit: 2 weeks
Time spent in detention/prison before first family visit: 5 years
Family members that were not granted access: All
Time in solitary confinement: 2 weeks
"It was 2 am when they knocked on the door. We were sleeping. She was barefoot in her sleeping gown, they didn’t even let her put on a dress or a pair of pants, they took her and put her in the car. Dogs were barking and the army was everywhere. I tried to follow her and they aimed their guns at me, meaning to shoot me."
Nadia, mother of Dou'a
"We hired so many lawyers and tried to find out where she was. A year later we found out that she was in Ramle prison."
"When I got a permit, I went to the prison and she alone, out of all the girls, was not allowed a visit. The second time, they told me she was punished and I couldn’t see her. The third time, they let me see her for only quarter of an hour."
Nadia, mother of Dou'a
Name: DOU’A AL JAYOUSI
From: Tulkarem (West Bank)
Date of birth: 04/11/1980
Age at arrest: 22 years old
Number of children and age of children when arrested: None
Formal charge(s): Took part in and aided a suicide operation
Sentence(s): 3 life sentences and 32 years
Period spent in prison: 8 years
Period of interrogation: 2 months
Time spent in detention/prison before first lawyer’s visit: Unknown
Time spent in detention/prison before first family visit: 1 year
Family members that were not granted access: Brother and sister-in-law
Time in solitary confinement: None
(Portrait of Nadia, mother of Dou'a)
"I was 18 years old...They took me directly to interrogation. The interrogation area is a big yard - Palestinians call it ‘The Slaughterhouse’. As I crossed it, I saw torture tools, I saw men hanging by their feet from chains, like sheep. I heard screaming...The place was truly terrifying. "
"They beat me with clubs. I’d have my face to the wall and they would beat me on my head and back. This method was used for the entire 60 days of interrogation. They would hit us as we heard songs, very loud Israeli songs. The interrogator would stand me with my back to the wall and push his foot forcefully into my chest until I choked and my tongue hung out. For years, I complained of chest problems. Long after I left prison, they discovered a hairline fracture in my ribs."
Name: FAIROUZ ARAFA
From: Gaza Strip
Date of birth: 8/10/1948
Age at arrest(s): 22, 24 and 26 years old
Number of children and age of children when arrested: None
Formal charge: Affiliation to a Palestinian political party
Sentence: 3 and half years
Period spent in prison: 3 years
Period of interrogation: 45 days for each imprisonment
Time spent in detention/prison before first lawyer’s visit: 3 months
Time spent in detention/prison before first family visit: 3 months
Family members that were not granted access: None
Time in solitary confinement: 225 days (including 90 consecutive days)
"When I was arrested, I told them that I wanted to talk to my family, to let them know. They said that they would call them. After I met my lawyers, I found out that they had not known where I was for 3 days."
"Gaza prisoners, unlike other prisoners, don’t get family visits. A person needs connection with family. Death is death but separation is harder because you’re alive and not allowed to see each other."
Fatma Al Ziq and her son Yousuf in their home in Gaza after their release.
"I gave birth on the 17th of January, a Thursday, in 2008. My suffering at the hands of the doctor started; it was as though she and I were in a battlefield with weapons pointed at each other. She insulted me at every opportunity; she kept saying: ‘go on, finish!’ I gave birth and they put Yousuf on my breast. I heard him cry and all the pain and torture I had suffered vanished. They took him away from me and immediately cuffed my hand and legs to the bed; my legs were shackled for three days. "
Fatma Al Ziq discovered that she was pregnant a few weeks after she was arrested.
Name: FATMA AL ZIQ
From: Gaza Strip
Date of birth: 30/11/1968
Age at arrest: 39 years old
Number of children and age of children when arrested: Mahmoud (19), Somayya (18), Belal (16), Sarah (14), Ali (13), Zakariya (10), Othman (7) and Sulieman (4)
Formal charge: Attempt to carry out a suicide operation
Sentence: None
Period spent in prison: 2 years and 4 months
Period of interrogation: 21 days
Time spent in detention/prison before first lawyer’s visit: 21 days
Time spent in detention/prison before first family visit: No family visits throughout detention
Family members that were not granted access: All
Time in solitary confinement: None
"They arrested me at home at 2 am. I was interrogated for 35 days. The first two weeks of interrogation, I was denied access to a lawyer. Interrogation continued night and day... After two weeks they allowed me to see a lawyer and then it continued: isolation in a cell for days followed by interrogation."
Ghoufran Zamel with her sisters, at the time of her release at Jbara checkpoint.
"They took away my jilbab (modest dress) and gave me their special brown prisoner uniform. It was short sleeved. I asked for something with long sleeves so I could pray, but they refused. I asked for a white long sleeved shirt that I could wear under the uniform, again they refused. I moved between cells in Jalame (detention center) among male guards in a short sleeved uniform. The thing that hurt me most were the insults they hurled at me."
Ghoufran Zamel hugs her father at the moment of her release at Jbara checkpoint.
Name: GHOUFRAN ZAMEL
From: Nablus (West Bank)
Date of birth: 28/2/1982
Age at arrest: 27 years old
Number of children and age of children when arrested: None
Formal charge: Provided services to a hostile political party (Hamas)
Sentence: 10 months
Period spent in prison: 9 months
Period of interrogation: 35 days
Time spent in detention/prison before first lawyer’s visit: 24 days
Time spent in detention/prison before first family visit: 4 months
Family members that were not granted access: Mother, brothers, sisters
Time in solitary confinement: 57 days
"She was held for interrogation (without trial) for 3 months. At the trial, the lawyer cited her psychological state; she was a new mother with postnatal depression; it was diagnosed and she was on medication. We had medical reports, but all to no avail, they did not take this into account...They sentenced her to 15 years."
Renad, showing a photo of her mother Ibtissam.
"She went to pay the phone bill. The guard at the building’s entrance was nasty to her; while searching her, he harassed her to the point where he asked her to take off her head scarf so he could check what was underneath. She argued with him. Then, she went out, bought a knife, came back and stabbed him. The guard subsequently recovered. When they arrested her, my youngest daughter was 4 months old. I was mother and father for my six children from that point on; I cooked, cleaned, kept them calm."
Ibraheem, husband of Ibtissam
Name: IBTISSAM ESSAWI
From: Jerusalem
Date of birth: 01/01/1966
Age at arrest: 35 years old
Number of children and age of children when arrested: Rama (15), Ruba (12), Rami (11), Ra’fat (8), Reem (6) and Renad (recently born)
Formal charge: Stabbing an Israeli telephone company security guard
Sentence: 14 years and 11 months
Period spent in prison: 10 years
Period of interrogation: 45 days
Time spent in detention/prison before first lawyer’s visit: Unknown
Time spent in detention/prison before first family visit: 3 months
Family members that were not granted access: Mother-in-law and youngest daughter
Time in solitary confinement: 6 months
(Portrait of Ibraheem, husband of Ibtissam)
"I was imprisoned at 16 and released at 23. I suffered deeply because I was unable to continue my education, to walk in the street, to see new people. Everything around you is motionless."
"I’ve been out for almost a year now and I’m confused... Should I pick up my life after 7 years or subtract the 7 years and start my life again at 16?"
"In prison, you learn that there is always tomorrow and that as long as you breathe, you can compensate for many things that have been taken from you. One has to be positive; there are a lot of negative elements in life, why should I be one of them?"
Name: SANA ‘AMER
From: Hebron (West Bank)
Date of birth: 22/10/1986
Age at arrest: 16 years old
Number of children and age of children when arrested: None
Formal charge: Attempted stabbing of an Israeli soldier
Sentence: 7 years
Period spent in prison: 7 years
Period of interrogation: 2 months in total (several sessions of interrogation over different periods)
Time spent in detention/prison before first lawyer’s visit: Unknown
Time spent in detention/prison before first family visit: 4 years
Family members that were not granted access: None
Time in solitary confinement: Unknown
"We suffer the effect of prison to this day. We were put behind bars as children. We were denied our childhood and a normal environment. I went into prison several times, the first when I was only 14 years old, the last time I was in prison I was deported. I stayed on the Jordanian-Israeli border for 11 days. I was 17 years old and they gave me 24 hours to leave even though I had served my two-year sentence. The Israeli security forces told me that I constituted a threat to Israeli security, so they chose to deport me. I was the first and youngest to be deported from Gaza. When I came back after 30 years, I found my father and sister dead and everything changed."
"Every time we talk about prisoners, the issue is somehow linked to terrorism! They’ve got it all wrong. We were put in prison because we fought for a right protected by international law."
Mariam Abu Daqa is the founder and president of an NGO in Gaza working with women political prisoners.
Name: MARIAM ABU DAQA
From: Gaza Strip
Date of birth: 23/7/1952
Age at arrest: 16 years old
Number of children and age of children when arrested: None
Formal charge(s): Affiliation to a resistance cell and hostile military activity
Sentence: 2 years
Period spent in prison: 2 years
Period of interrogation: 45 days
Time spent in detention/prison before first lawyer’s visit: 6 months
Time spent in detention/prison before first family visit: 6 months
Family members that were not granted access: Unknown
Time in solitary confinement: 10 days
"She has now spent 6 years in jail without a single visit from her family. Since Shalit was taken, I received only one letter from her through the Red Cross and it took 9 months to reach me. I would like to ask why there are no visitation rights for the entire Gaza Strip. What are the reasons? "
Sameer, father of Wafa.
"I hear her news through families of other prisoners from the West Bank. Wafa sends messages with them and they call us and let us know she’s alright. I hope that the Shalit issue is resolved. Just as Shalit’s mother demands to see her son, we also want to see our children. There are people who haven’t seen their children for 30 years and yet no one asks after them. I pray to God that the prisoner exchange comes through and everyone is freed and that we rejoice just as she (Shalit’s mother) will and that I will get to hug my daughter Wafa."
Salma mother of Wafa.
Name: WAFA AL BISS
From: Gaza Strip
Date of birth: 07/08/1984
Age at arrest: 21 years old
Number of children and age of children when arrested: None
Formal charge: Attempted suicide operation
Sentence: 12 years
Period spent in prison: 5 years
Period of interrogation: 3 weeks
Time spent in detention/prison before first lawyer’s visit: Unknown
Time spent in detention/prison before first family visit: No visits throughout detention
Family members that were not granted access: All
Time in solitary confinement: 10 months
(Portrait of Salma, mother of Wafa)