Amani al-Hashem sentenced to 10 years in Israeli prisons; update on Palestinian women prisoners

Amani Hashem

Palestinian prisoner Amani al-Hashem, 32, from Beit Hanina east of Jerusalem, was sentenced on Sunday, 25 March to 10 years in Israeli occupation prisons. The sentencing came after repeated continuances of her case; she has been imprisoned since 13 December 2016, when occupation forces fired live bullets at her and her car near the Qalandiya checkpoint, accusing her of attempting to run over Israeli occupation forces.

After being seized at the checkpoint, she was interrogated and subject to torture and ill-treatment for 14 days when held in the notorious Moskobiyeh detention center. Hearings in her case were continued on 22 occasions.

Israa Jaabis

Severely wounded Palestinian prisoner Israa Jaabis was transferred to Hadassah medical center on 18 March for medical tests. Jaabis, 32, has burns over 65 percent of her body and eight of her fingers were amputated after a fire in her car when a cooking gas cylinder exploded inside 500 meters from an Israeli checkpoint in October 2015.

During and after the fire, which was contained inside her car, she was treated like a “security threat” rather than a person in a medical emergency by occupation forces; she was sentenced to 11 years in Israeli prison and accused of “attempted murder” of an occupation soldier. Her much-needed medical treatment has been repeatedly delayed; she recently had two surgical procedures, one to separate her right armpit, fused to her body through burning, and another to perform a skin transplant under her eye.

Jaabis, the mother of one, lives with constant pain and suffering and requires multiple serious medical procedures. The occupation appeals court rejected her petition to reduce her sentence due to her severe health status. While she was held in the hospital after her operations, she was kept shackled hand and foot to her hospital bed despite her severe injuries and pain; in a letter to her sister and brother, she said that she asked to be returned to the prison early due to the pain from the tight shackles.

Khadija al-Ruba’i

Meanwhile, on 14 March, the Israeli occupation military courts issued an additional two-month administrative detention order against Khadija al-Ruba’i, one of three Palestinian women jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention along with Palestinian parliamentarian and feminist leader Khalida Jarrar and journalist and prisoners’ advocate Bushra al-Tawil. Al-Ruba’i, 33 and the mother of five children, has been imprisoned without charge or trial since 9 October 2017; she has been ordered twice to administrative detention without charge or trial for three months. The two-month renewal was set to be the final order against her.

Yasmin Abu Srour, 20, a Palestinian refugee from Aida camp near Bethlehem, was sentenced on Thursday, 22 March to seven months in Israeli prison. The young woman was accused of “incitement” for posting on Facebook about Palestinian politics and the Israeli occupation.

Ola Marshoud

Meanwhile, in Balata refugee camp in Nablus, occupation forces invaded the home of Ola Marshoud, 21, a freelance journalist and a university student at Al-Najah National University in Nablus. She has been detained by occupation forces for over a week, after she was ordered to come to the Huwwarra detention center for interrogation by occupation security forces. Her family reported that occupation forces ransacked the home searching for her mobile phone and interrogated her parents. Her detention was extended for an additional week on Saturday, 17 March. Students at Al-Najah held a protest to demand the release of Marshoud.

Several other women prisoners’ cases were continued by the Israeli occupation courts, including Fadwa Hamadeh, accused of attempting to participate in a Palestinian resistance attack against occupation soldiers.