Palestinian prisoners start hunger strike

This from the Defence For Children International - Palestine Section. Click title for full story - PolPop

Female prisoners in Telmond start hunger strike protest

On 30 November 2004, a DCI/PS lawyer visited the women's section of Telmond prison where he was able to talk to one Palestinian detainee, Samah Abdallah. Samah informed him that on Sunday 28 November, the female Palestinian prisoners in Telmond went out to the exercise yard as normal. However, before the end of their allotted time outdoors, the prison administration ordered the Palestinian women and girls to return to their cells. The representative of the Palestinian female detainees, Amna Mouna, complained to the guards that it was too soon for the women to go back inside. As she did so, she was severely beaten by a group of prison guards after which she was taken to the punishment cells, which are cold bare rooms with no bedding, no heating and no natural light.

To protest against the manner in which the prison administration deals with female Palestinian prisoners and in particular against the beating of their spokeswoman and her subsequent isolation, the remaining Palestinian female detainees began screaming and shouting. The guards responded by bringing in other troops, armed with batons, water hoses and tear gas, who began to beat the women and spray them with water and gas.