According to the testimony to the Palestinian prisoners’ organisation “Club of prisoners” by Hala Djabr,  a Palestinian woman who has just been released, on September 7, after 14 months imprisonment in the Neve Tirza women prison in Ramleh, the aggression of the Israeli’s against Amina Mouna (Muna Hamayra), spokesperson for the women prisoners in Neve Tirza, has increased awfully. The guards have thrown boiling water and detergents over her body and in stead of bringing her to the hospital she was put in isolation. Hala said further that this assault was pre-programmed and that the Israeli’s in fact want to kill Amina Mouna. 

It is not the first time that Amina is the victim of brutal retaliation by the prison authorities. She is 26 years old, from Jerusalem and was a student at the university at the moment she was arrested on January 19, 2001. She has been charged for “participation in the murder of an Israeli”. During her interrogation she was physically and psychologically tortured, but till now she has not been trialled, the trial has always been postponed, which is a means to keep her in prison as long as possible. In prison, she was elected as spokeswoman of the prisoners and her militant defence of their rights as prisoners caused her even more the hatred of the Israeli’s. In October 2001, after she was beaten severely and transferred to another prison, the Abu Kabir detention centre! , where she was put in isolation, the other prisoners in Neve Tirza went on hunger strike to demand her return; the Israeli authorities had to give in and Amina was returned. Since then, she and other women have been harassed, beaten and put in isolation several times.

At this moment, there are about 70 Palestinian women in the Neve Tirza prison; some dozen of them are minors. They have to fight continuously for their rights and to keep their dignity. For example, in July of this year, 37 women prisoners refused to enter their cells to protest their isolation. The prison authorities poured water over them and then 70 soldiers entered the yard, beat them up and forced them back in the cells and then did throw gas in the tiny cells. One woman, Atyf Alyan, was attacked and the soldiers sprayed the gas right in her mouth, she was then taken away and transferred.  Several other women were severely wounded. 

For this constant struggle against the brutality of the prison regime, for their rights and dignity, for their refusal to bend, Amina Mouna might pay with her life now!

The Palestinian prisoners and their organisations call all international institutions and organisations to act now against the horrifying conditions in which the Palestinian men, women and children are held in the Israeli prisons and detention camps.  

This serious incident shows indeed the dramatic situation at this moment in the Israeli prisons. These last months one could witness a steady escalation of the violence against the Palestinian prisoners and it is clear that Israel continues its policy of destruction also inside the prisons. But at the same time the struggle and the resistance of the prisoners has been growing: in several prisons and detention centres protest actions and hunger strikes have been waged, and a hunger strike of ALL Palestinian prisoners has been announced. 

To stop the threats against the life of Amina Mouna, to bring under attention of the “responsables” the unbearable conditions in the Zionist goals, and let the world hear the demands of the Palestinian prisoners, we propose:

 

1) to flood the prison with solidarity cards to Amina Mouna, so that she, the other women prisoners and the prison authorities know that the world is watching and that we will not let Amina die:

Write to: Amina Mouna, Neve Tirza prison, PO box 229, 72100 RAMLEH. Israel

 

2) to write protest letters to the authorities:

The addresses of Israeli and international authorities:

email string:

pm_eng@pmo.gov.il, webmaster@pmo.gov.il, sar@mofa.gov.il, 
mayor@jerusalem.muni.il, brsigal@jerusalem.muni.il, 
aporaz@knesset.gov.il, sar@moin.gov.il,sar@justice.gov.il, 
president@whitehouse.gov, secretary@state.gov, ecu@un.org, 
coi@un.org, webadmin.hchr@unog.ch, romano.prodi@cec.eu.int, 
public.info@consilium.eu.int, info@rhr.israel.net 

Address details: 
Israeli Officials:

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Office of the Prime Minister 3 Kaplan
Street, P O Box 187 Jerusalem 91919, Israel Fax: +972 2 6705475; 
+972 2 5664838; Tel: 972 2 6705511 E-mail: pm_eng@pmo.gov.il;
webmaster@pmo.gov.il 

Foreign Minister Silwan Shalom sar@mofa.gov.il 

Mayor Uri Luplianski: Kikar Safra 1, Jerusalem, Israel; Phone: >
972-2-629-7717; Fax: 972--629-6014; mayor@jerusalem.muni.il;
brsigal@jerusalem.muni.il 

Interior Minister Avrahm Poraz Ministry of
the Interior; Kiryat Ben Gurion, Kaplan 2, Jerusalem, Israel;
aporaz@knesset.gov.il; sar@moin.gov.il; Fax: 972-2-566-6376 Tel:
972-2-670-1402 

Minister for Jerusalem Affairs Natan Sharansky Tel. 
972-2-6799774, Fax: 972-2-6799775 

Justice Minister Yosef (Tommy) Lapid Tel. 972-2-6466527, Fax. 972 2 
6285438, sar@justice.gov.il