On 30 November 2004, a DCI/PS lawyer visited the women’s section of Telmond prison where he was able to talk to one Palestinian detainee, Samah Abdallah. Samah informed him that on Sunday 28 November, the female Palestinian prisoners in Telmond went out to the exercise yard as normal. However, before the end of their allotted time outdoors, the prison administration ordered the Palestinian women and girls to return to their cells. The representative of the Palestinian female detainees, Amna Mouna, complained to the guards that it was too soon for the women to go back inside. As she did so, she was severely beaten by a group of prison guards after which she was taken to the punishment cells, which are cold bare rooms with no bedding, no heating and no natural light.

To protest against the manner in which the prison administration deals with female Palestinian prisoners and in particular against the beating of their spokeswoman and her subsequent isolation, the remaining Palestinian female detainees began screaming and shouting. The guards responded by bringing in other troops, armed with batons, water hoses and tear gas, who began to beat the women and spray them with water and gas.

As a result of the brutal attack, one prisoner, Sana Amer, suffered probable fractures to an arm and a leg, while two other Palestinian prisoners, Suad Ghazal and Asma’ Hussain both sustained probable arm fractures. Many other prisoners were also injured by the guards. The prison administration did not provide medical or first aid treatment to the injured detainees. Instead, they placed a further 13 prisoners in the punishment cells.

There were further reprisals awaiting those who returned to their normal cells. The administration confiscated all electrical appliances in the rooms, and the personal supplies of food and cigarettes which the women had bought with their own money from the canteena. In a deliberate effort to make the miserable living conditions even worse, guards sprayed cold water all over the prisoners’ belongings, soaking their mattresses and clothes. Given that it is winter, the women were not able to dry the bedding, so were forced to sleep in cold damp beds. The prison administration cut the prisoners’ electricity and water supplies, and the smell of the tear gas continues to cling to the walls of the cells.

The person who has suffered the most is Nor, the 1-year old son of Manal Ghanem. He was born in prison on 10 October 2003 and has never been outside the Telmond compound. After being sprayed by water and gas, Nor developed a serious cold. He was not provided with any medication.

Samah also informed the DCI/PS lawyer that during the last week of November 2004, 30 female Palestinian prisoners were transferred from Ramle (Neve-Tertze) women’s prison to the female section of the Telmond Compound. Lack of space was already a problem in Telmond when there were only 56 women prisoners there. Now the number has risen to 86, overcrowding has become a serious issue – with as many as five detainees confined to cells which are designed to house only two prisoners.

The Palestinian female detainees in Telmond, among whom there are at least five aged under-18, have embarked on a hunger strike to protest against the maltreatment they have suffered at the hands of the prison administration and the appalling conditions in which they are held.

DCI/PS will continue to monitor the situation and will send out further briefings as soon as it receives any additional information on the welfare and condition of the Palestinian female prisoners in Telmond.