IPS offers treatment for woman prisoner in return for her isolation

IPS offers treatment for woman prisoner in return for her isolation

NABLUS, The Israeli prison service (IPA) has offered medical treatment for a Palestinian woman prisoner in Damon jail in return for isolating her for three months in Ramle prison.

Ahmed Al-Beitawi, a researcher in the international Tadamun (Solidarity) institution said that the prisoner Wurud Qassem from the 1948 occupied Teira town was suffering from acute pain in her teeth and jaw to the extent that she could not speak or eat properly.

She asked the IPS for treatment but she was surprised with the prison’s clinic response that she should serve three months in solitary confinement in Ramle in return.

Beitawi said that the prisoner refused the offer, adding that she preferred pain alongside her prison mates rather than treatment and isolation.

The researcher said that the IPS was exploiting the pain of prisoners to blackmail them, recalling that medical treatment was previously offered to Palestinian prisoners in return for confession or deportation.

Medical neglect and solitary confinement were and remain the prisoners’ main points of focus in their past and present strikes and demands, Beitawi pointed out.

Wurud Qassem was detained since October 2006 and is serving a six-year sentence on the charge of resisting occupation. Two other Palestinian women from the 1948 occupied Palestine are serving other sentences namely Lina Jarboni, 18 years, and Khadija Abu Ayyash, 3 years.