July 02, 2022: Sa’diyya Farajallah, 68, died in an Israeli prison less than seven months after Israeli soldiers abducted her. Sa’diyya was the oldest female detainee imprisoned by Israel.
According to the Palestinian Prisoners Society, Sa’diyya, from Ethna town west of the southern West Bank city of Hebron, died at the ad-Damoun Israeli prison.
The PPS stated that Farajallah, a married mother of eight, was the oldest Palestinian female detainee in Israeli prisons and that she was abducted by the Israeli soldiers on December 18, 2021, near the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron, after she was injured when many illegal Israeli colonizers attacked her.
Update: On Thursday August 11, 2022, Israel released her corpse before the Palestinians held her funeral procession after the deceased was examined by specialist at the Al-Ahli hospital in Hebron. Read More
The Israeli authorities prevented her family from visiting her throughout her imprisonment; she died at the Damoun Israeli prison.
The woman had diabetes and high blood pressure, diabetes, a heart condition, and various chronic illnesses, and was taking various medications before she was taken, prisoner.
Akram Samara, a lawyer of the Palestinian Detainees Committee, said he saw her last time last Tuesday in court, adding that she was in a wheelchair, unable to speak, and looked very fragile.
Samara said the Israeli authorities refused to provide medical reports detailing her health condition and were denying her the right to medical treatment during her imprisonment.
Her family held Israel accountable for her death, especially since she was denied access to medical attention and her medications and called on the International Community to act and help save the lives of the Palestinian detainees, especially the ones holding extended hunger strikes demanding an end to their arbitrary Administrative Detention without charges or trial.
Sa’diyya died at the Damoun Israeli prison after eight months in prison, including two months in solitary confinement despite her health and chronic conditions.
Her brother, Taiseer Farajallah, demanded an autopsy to know the cause of death and added that the soldiers repeatedly struck and beat his sister, after they claimed she tried to stab a colonizer, near the Ibrahimi Mosque while she was on her way to visit her two married daughters, living in the Old City of Hebron.
“My sister was a woman who struggled to provide for her family despite the dire financial situation,” Taiseer stated.
Sa’diyya’s son, Mohammad, described what happened to his mother as a crime and that his family was not allowed to visit her, adding that when they saw her in court and were not allowed to talk to her, she looked very weak and extremely ill, even unable to speak.
Her death brings the number of detainees who died in Israeli prisons since 1967 to 230.
The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) called for an immediate investigation into her death.
The PPS quoted a statement by the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society stating that a court hearing was held last Tuesday for Sa’diyya, who is the eldest among the female prisoners detained in the Israeli jails.
The statement added that she attended the hearing in a wheelchair, and her lawyer had already asked the Israeli prison service to refer her to a doctor after her medical examinations showed that her health condition was getting worse due to high diabetes and pressure.
“The Israeli Prosecution asked in the hearing that she should be sentenced to five years in prison and 15,000 shekels fine, in compensation; however, no definitive sentence has been so far issued,” the PPS said.
Sa’diyya was among twenty-nine female detainees, including Maysoun Mousa from Bethlehem, who was taken prisoner in 2015 and was sentenced to fifteen years in prison, in addition to Shorouq al-Badan and Bushra Tawil, who are held under the Administrative Detention orders without charges or trial.
Israel is also still holding captive ten Palestinian mothers and a female child Nofouth Hammad, 15, who was tortured during interrogation.
Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah held Israel responsible for her death and called on the International Community to investigate her death and ensure the release of all female detainees, children, elders, and ailing political prisoners.
Sa’diyya was from Ethna town west of the southern West Bank city of Hebron. Source: IMEMC