Salutes of freedom to Palestinian journalist Rasha Herzallah, liberated from Zionist prisons on Sunday, 1 December, after 6 months behind bars. There remain at least 89 Palestinian women prisoners in occupation jails out of 10,200 Palestinian prisoners held in colonial prisons. This number does not include Palestinians abducted from Gaza by the invading genocidal occupation forces, who number in the thousands and have been subjected to the most extreme forms of torture and abuse on a systematic level.
Multiple recently released Palestinian women prisoners, including Shahd and Angham Asafra, Baraa Karameh, and Sondos Obeid, have spoken about the severe and abusive conditions Palestinian women face in Damon prison. Their belongings are frequently ransacked, and they are denied changes of clothes; many are forced to wear the prison uniform, and must cover themselves with blankets during roll call due to a lack of clothing. There have been multiple attempts to remove the hijabs from the women’s rooms, and they are frequently denied cleaning products as well as feminine hygiene needs. Like other Palestinian prisoners, they receive meager food, are often denied water, and often do not have access to the “canteen,” or prison store; they are frequently subjected to repressive raids, isolation, and denials of family and lawyer visits.
Herzallah, 39, from Nablus, is the sister of the martyr Mohammed Herzallah “Abu Hamdi”, one of the leaders of the Lions’ Den. He was martyred on 23 November 2022 from the injuries he received on 24 July of that year, during the assassination of fellow Lions’ Den founders, the martyrs Mohammed al-Azizi and Aboud Suboh.
He was also a former Palestinian prisoner who spent one and a half years in Zionist prisons.
One of Rasha’s first actions upon her liberation was to visit the grave of her brother Mohammed, embracing his gravesite and expressing her mourning for her beloved brother.
Rasha Herzallah is one of nearly 100 Palestinian journalists detained in occupation prisons and one of at least six women journalists held in Damon prison, including Rula Hassanein, Israa Lafi, Bushra al-Tawil, Nidaa al-Zoughabi, the students Amal Shujaiya and Duaa al-Qadi, and Sumaya Jawabreh, who is held under house arrest. The attack on and imprisonment of Palestinian journalists comes hand in hand with the Zionist assault on Palestinian journalists in Gaza, where over 192 have already been murdered as part of the genocidal aggression funded and sponsored by the United States, Britain, Germany, France, Canada and fellow imperialist powers.
Salutes to Rasha Herzallah, liberation for all the prisoners, and solidarity with all those truthful journalists facing imprisonment in zionist, imperialist and reactionary regime prisons for exposing the genocidal zionist regime!
For more information about Palestinian women prisoners or to get involved with the independent international campaign for their liberation, please visit Dismantle Damon at https://instagram.com/dismantle_damon or https://t.me/dismantle_damon.
