The influence of Hammad, the youngest Palestinian prisoner… from arrest and abuse to prison sentences
The day before yesterday (Sunday), the Israeli District Court in Jerusalem sentenced the youngest Palestinian prisoner in Israeli prisons, Nafoth Hammad, to 12 years in prison.
The Prisoners Club said in a statement carried by Palestinian media: “The occupation court sentenced the child prisoner, Nofat Hammad, to 12 years in prison, compensation worth 50,000 shekels (about $13,000) and one prison term. suspended for 3 years.”
Who is Nofat Hammad?
Nawath, a 16-year-old student from the city of Jerusalem, Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, who according to the Prisoners’ Club is currently detained in “Damoun” prison. She was arrested on 8 December 2021, when she was 14 years old, inside her school (Al-Rawdah Al-Hadithah) in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood.
According to the Wadi Hilweh Human Rights Information Center in Jerusalem, the Israeli public prosecutor accused the girl of “attempting to kill a settler causing minor injuries” following a stabbing attack.
The family is about to appeal
In a statement to Palestinian media, the prisoner’s father, Jad Hammad, said the family did not expect the court’s decision to imprison his daughter for 12 years, saying “the decision was revenge against our people in light circumstances they are currently experiencing.”
He highlighted that Nafoth, detained since 2021, is now 16 years old and will be 26 when released from prison, explaining that the family is in the process of appealing the sentence within a 45-day period.
He said: “When Nofoth was arrested, she was in year nine. She was a hard-working, sociable girl who loved children, and participated in the role of clown during school activities.”
He explained that the last time the family met Nofoth was about 40 days ago in Damoun prison, stressing that he saw his daughter Nofoth in the last court hearing via Zoom, because he had refused to bring her to the hearing to avoid of being attacked during transport. of “Al-Bosta”.
He said that the morale of the influential prisoner is high, but she complains about the poor conditions of detention in the prison after the intensification of abuse of male and female prisoners, and that after the outbreak of war in Gaza, male and female prisoners they were subjected to attacks and abuse, “including my daughter”.
He expressed hope that all male and female prisoners, including his daughter Nofoth, as well as those detained in the Gaza Strip, will soon be released and that an agreement will be reached between all parties in this regard.
A bitter reality in captivity
Nafoud suffered greatly in Israeli prisons and experienced a very bitter reality in captivity.
Last year, Nofoth told Palestinian Authority lawyer for prisoner and ex-prisoner affairs Hanan Al-Khatib the details of her arrest and the abuse, brutal assaults and humiliating treatment to which she was subjected as she was taken away. from her school and interrogated in the Israeli investigative basements.
According to a statement released by the Prisoners’ and Ex-Prisoners’ Affairs Authority, he said that on December 8, 2021, around nine in the morning, “I was at school and we were in first period, and Israeli forces entered the school (Al-Rawdah Al-Hadithah Girls’ Secondary School) and started searching the students.
He added: “When my turn came for the inspection, they asked me and my friend Israa Ghait for names. They made us sit down and then took me aside. Then I asked a teacher to accompany me, but they refused. I also asked my sister, who is a year older than me, to accompany me, and they also refused. After that, they took me near the director’s office, tied my hands behind my back with iron handcuffs, and about 5 soldiers surrounded me, while asking me questions, shouting at me and insulting me with very obscene words.”
Nofoth noted: “Then they took me to one of the school classrooms with two female soldiers who searched me. Then they confiscated my phone, handcuffed me in the back, blindfolded me and took me down the stairs of the school. Then I asked again to accompany my sister or my teacher, but they refused and shouted at me again and ordered me to be quiet. Later, they took me and threw me into an ordinary car, and I was surrounded by occupation soldiers on all sides while I had my hands tied behind my back and my eyes blindfolded.”
Nafoth continued: “Later I was taken to the Al-Maskobiyya interrogation center and was interrogated by 6 or 7 investigators, one of whom was shouting at me and insulting me with obscenities. Another investigator hit me hard in the face and the force of the punch slammed my head against the wall. He also kicked me in the side and pulled my hair, he didn’t stop yelling at me and threatening to keep me in the cell for a long time and deprive me of seeing my family. They later moved me to another cell, where another interrogator threw a chair at me and threatened to demolish my house and arrest my parents.”
Nafoth explained in his testimony: “They then transferred me to the Al-Ma’bar section of Hasharon prison, me and my friend Israa, but they prevented us from talking. It was around 00:30. At around 2:30 in the morning they woke us up and took us back to the Al-Mascobiyya interrogation center. We stay like this for about 10 consecutive days. We only slept two hours, in addition to the harsh conditions of transportation in the so-called bosta car, because its chairs were made of iron and very cold.”
Nofoth says: “The conditions of the cells at the Sharon crossing are very difficult. The window is large and always open. We asked the jailers several times to close it, but they refused. For the first two days they didn’t bring us food. Once we asked for water and they brought us ice, and they were very late in bringing us meals. Furthermore, the blanket provided by the prison administration is a light sheet, while the mattress is leather and there is no pillow. And it smells bad. “The cell is very dirty and there are cockroaches and (other) insects on its walls.”
Nofoth added: “There was no hot water available for the first two days.” After about 5 days, my family was able to bring me some clothes, but the captors deliberately kept the items for several days before bringing them to us. We slept and woke up in the same clothes and I was in my school uniform. After about 6 days we were able to change our clothes.”
According to Nofoth, “My friend Israa was released on bail after about two weeks, and I was left alone in the room for a day. Then, they brought the prisoner Ubaida Al-Haroub. Then I asked the jailers to bring me shampoo and a toothbrush, and a jailer called Nimah came in and started hitting me and yelling at me. I told her I didn’t understand Hebrew and she hit me. I asked her why she hit me, since I only asked for shampoo and toothbrush, but she continued to hit me without stopping. There were other prison guards who started shouting at me and cursing me with obscene words”.
Nodo continued to recount what happened, saying: “Then they tied me up and transferred me to an isolation cell, where I remained for 4 hours. Later, they took me to another cell near the criminal inmates section, before questioning me again due to the problem that occurred between me and the female guard. After staying in Hasron Prison for several days, I was transferred to the inmate section of Damon Prison, where I now reside.”
According to data from the Palestinian News Agency (Wafa), the number of prisoners in Israeli prisons at the end of October reached around 7 thousand prisoners, including 62 female prisoners, while precise numbers are not available for children detained, and the number of detained administrative prisoners (detained without charge) was (2070), and the number of Gaza detainees classified by the occupation as illegal combatants reached 105.
The number of prisoners in Israeli prisons under detention has reached approximately 5,200, including 36 female prisoners and approximately 170 children, while the number of administrative prisoners has reached 1,264, including more than 20 children, and 4 female prisoners: Raghad Al-Fanni , Samah Awad, Hanan Al-Barghouti and Fatima Abu waterfall.
Since the beginning of 2023, Israeli forces have arrested more than 5,000 Palestinians, including 83 women and 678 children.