Israel’s abuse of female prisoners on the rise

[ 05/07/2010 - 03:40 PM ]

NABLUS, (PIC)-- The  International Tadhamun (Solidarity) Foundation for Human Rights revealed that a special Israeli unit spontaneously raided the cells of female inmates in the Damon prison and proceeded in a barbaric inspection operation a few days ago. Ahmed Beitawi, one of the foundation’s researchers, said that the victims were spontaneously raided by the “Droor” unit, an Israeli prisons authority unit, which specializes in inspecting female offenders, in search of drugs and contraband in their cells at exactly nine o’clock in the morning. The captives were then detained in the corners of their cells and forced to raise their hands. They remained in that position until 3:00 pm. Beitawi said, "The inspection raid operation permeated inspection and destruction of all the prisoners’ belongings, and the procedure ended by removal of prisoners from the cells, and they were 17 captives in number, one after the other, and then they were subjected to humiliating strip searches" by female soldiers. On her part, prisoner Amna Mona, the woman responsible for inmates in the Damon prison, denied the IPA argument that the raid operation was to search for cellular devices, clarifying that the purpose behind it was to "humiliate and terrorize prisoners and to put them in a state of emotional instability". The human rights foundation appeals for serious efforts to stop the policy of humiliating strip searches and successive raids of prisoners’ cells.