Freed Palestinian: Female Prisoners Face Daily Oppression
Diala Ayash reveals the harsh conditions and struggles of women in Israeli prisons.
Watan–The Palestinian activist and lawyer Diala Ayash, who was recently released from Israeli prisons, described the conditions of female prisoners as “harsh,” stating that they are subjected daily to oppression and abuse.
This came in a statement following her release on Tuesday evening from Damon Prison in northern Israel after a year of “administrative detention” without any charges being brought against her.
Her release coincided with Palestinian, Qatari, and Israeli statements about the imminent signing of a prisoner exchange agreement and an end to the ongoing Israeli genocide in the Gaza Strip, which has lasted for more than 15 months.
On Wednesday evening, Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman announced that mediators had succeeded in reaching an agreement for a prisoner exchange and a return to sustainable calm, leading to a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and an Israeli withdrawal from the territory. He stated that the implementation of the agreement would begin next Sunday.
Diala said, “I left the prison, leaving behind a number of female prisoners, including three from the Gaza Strip, who are waiting for their freedom.”
She added, “The conditions of detention are not easy. Female prisoners suffer from extremely difficult conditions, face near-daily oppression and abuse, and are deprived of everything.”
She continued, “The prison consists of isolation cells with harsh conditions. A female prisoner owns nothing but her personal clothes, having lost almost everything. The prison administration confiscated all belongings.”
“In late September, they confiscated spoons, plates, and cups for several days, and then returned some of them. We had to share the same spoons and plates among us,” Diala explained.
Diala, a lawyer and human rights activist, added that “female prisoners are subjected to constant strip searches, yet they remain in high spirits, and neither the prison nor the jailers have been able to break them.”
Diala was arrested on January 17, 2024, while passing through the “Container” military checkpoint in Bethlehem governorate, south of the West Bank, and placed under administrative detention.
On Tuesday evening, Israel released Diala at the Jalama checkpoint north of Jenin in the occupied West Bank.
