Palestinian leader Khalida Jarrar has been held under administrative detention in Israeli occupation prisons without charge or trial since her arrest from her home in Ramallah on December 26, 2023.
The Handala Center for the Rights of Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners recently reported that Jarrar, detained in Ramla prison, is facing a systematic Israeli campaign of repression and abuse that endangers her life.
Since August, Jarrar has also been subjected to solitary confinement by the Israeli occupation authorities.
A prominent leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and a key national figure in the occupied West Bank, Jarrar has been arrested by Israel multiple times.
During her imprisonment in 2019, she suffered a devastating loss when her daughter Suha passed away at age 31 on July 13, 2021. Despite international appeals, the Israeli occupation authorities denied Jarrar the chance to bid her daughter farewell.
The 62-year-old leader, who suffers from health problems, has seen her condition worsen due to harsh imprisonment conditions and deliberate medical negligence by the Israeli prison administration.
‘Held in a Grave’
Jarrar has spent five and a half years in Israeli prisons to date, alternating between administrative detention and alleged formal charges.
On August 13, the prison administration abruptly transferred her to solitary confinement in Neve Tirza Prison in Ramla without justification, her sister Salam Ratrout told the Palestine Chronicle.
“She suffers from high blood pressure, diabetes, and narrowed arteries in her head. She was suddenly told to prepare herself and then was transferred from Damon prison for women in conditions that are, to say the least, terrible,” Salam said.
During the third week of her isolation, Jarrar’s lawyer was able to visit her. Jarrar described her condition as “being held in a grave.” She explained that her narrow cell includes an inside toilet with no water, has no windows or ventilation holes, and lacks sufficient food and medical treatment.
The bed in her cell is a concrete slab with a thin mattress, forcing her to sleep on the floor. Her diabetes condition is further aggravated as she is served uncooked food, Salam added.
A former member of the Palestinian Legislative Council and a feminist activist, Jarrar has faced immense personal loss during her years of imprisonment. In addition to losing her daughter, she was also unable to bid farewell to her father in 2022. Less than a month after her release in September 2022, her mother passed away.
“Prisoners spend their entire lives in detention without knowing what their charge is. Neither international institutions nor laws have succeeded in forcing Israel to end this injustice,” Salam said.
The Handala Center confirmed that Jarrar has endured extremely harsh conditions during 93 days of solitary confinement. “The freedom fighter finds nothing but to lie down next to the door, a place where she can breathe with the least amount of oxygen, in a tragic scene that reflects the cruelty to which the prisoners are exposed,” the center stated.
The center has called for urgent intervention by international and human rights organizations to save Jarrar and other Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons.