A 27-year-old Palestinian mother from the occupied West Bank has been arrested by the Israeli authorities for the third time in less than two years, an prisoner advocacy group says.
The Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) said on Thursday that Shurouq al-Badan, who was abducted by Israeli forces last week from the West Bank city of Bethlehem, was slapped with a four-month administrative detention for her political activity against the Israeli occupying regime.
Badan, a mother of a 5-year-old baby girl, was first detained in 2019 and spent one year in administrative detention without any charge or trial. She was re-detained in September of last year and spent another six months in administrative detention before being released in May.
According to the PPS, at least 32 Palestinian women have currently been languishing behind bars at Israel's notorious Damon prison. They are subjected to very harsh conditions and are constantly monitored through surveillance cameras.
The female Palestinian prisoners have to spend most of their days in damp and humid rooms, particularly in the winter season, the PPS said.
A number of rights advocacy groups earlier this year reported on the occasion of International Mother’s Day that Israel was holding several Palestinian mothers in jail, adding that they are subject to various kinds of torture and not allowed to meet with their relatives.
In September, following Palestinian outrage and a public campaign that drew international attention and condemnation, a heavily pregnant Palestinian detainee was released from an Israeli jail to house arrest to give birth at home.
Anhar al-Deek, 26, in her ninth month of pregnancy, was released from Damon prison to house arrest in the village of Kafr Nai’ma in the West Bank after paying a bond of more than $12,000.
More than 7,000 Palestinian prisoners are currently held in some 17 Israeli jails, with dozens of them serving multiple life sentences.
Hundreds of detainees, including women and minors, are being held under the so-called administrative detention in various Israeli prisons, with some of them being held in that condition for up to 11 years without any charges brought against them.
The detention takes place on orders from a military commander and on the basis of what the Israeli regime describes as ‘secret’ evidence.
Israeli jail authorities also keep Palestinian prisoners under deplorable conditions that lack proper hygienic standards.
Palestinian inmates have been subjected to systematic torture, harassment and repression all through the years of Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories.
Israeli forces have also arrested more than 17,000 minors since 2000.
Senior Palestinian officials say Israel must be held accountable for its persecution of Palestinian people, including its mass and arbitrary detentions.
Human rights organizations say Israel continues to violate all rights and freedoms granted to prisoners by the Fourth Geneva Convention and international laws.