Palestinian human rights organizations have denounced that a female Palestinian prisoner was subjected to brutal torture by the Israeli prison authorities while in custody. On September 4 at around 9 pm, Fatima Amarneh was arrested while leaving the Al-Aqsa mosque in occupied East Jerusalem after an Israeli soldier alleged that she had tried to stab him.
The Palestinian Prisoners and Ex-prisoners Affairs Commission on Monday said that 41-year-old Amarneh, who hails from Jenin, told her lawyer that Israeli soldiers had beaten her until she lost consciousness while arresting her. When she gained consciousness, she found herself handcuffed inside a police jeep.
After her arrest, she was reportedly taken to an Israeli investigation center where she was further subjected to physical and psychological abuse while being interrogated. Police officers threatened to sexually assault her. According to reports, policewomen strip-searched her several times. She claimed that her handcuffs were deliberately tightened to cause pain and she was constantly kicked, punched, and pushed around. Her clothes had blood stains following the alleged assault.
Amarneh told her lawyer that the police kept abruptly transferring her. She was taken to Ramla prison where the prison authorities did not give her any food, water, or other basic amenities and kept her in a dingy and unhygienic cell. She claimed, “they [police] put me in solitary confinement in a dreary and coarse cell with a bed and a thin leather mattress, no pillows, and a dirty and stinky blanket. The toilet had a hole in the floor and smelled very bad. After that, I was transferred to Damon prison.”
Amarneh’s lawyer, Hanan Khatib, while speaking to news outlets expressed concern about the visible bruises on her body. It is still unclear if she has been allowed medical treatment.
Israeli authorities have been regularly accused of medical negligence when it comes to Palestinian prisoners, even when they are suffering from life-threatening diseases. Israeli security forces and prison authorities routinely mistreat and abuse Palestinian prisoners, including women and children. A wide range of restrictions and coercive illegal tactics are used to repress them in blatant violation of Israeli and international law. Human rights groups and the international community have repeatedly called on Israel to treat prisoners in accordance with international law but prisoners’ rights continue to be violated.
Around 5,000 Palestinians are currently being held inside Israeli prisons and detention centers, including dozens of women and children.
