Israeli Court Refuses to Release Pregnant Palestinian Woman

Anhar al-Deek, 26, is expected to have a cesarean delivery while in Israeli custody. (Photo: via Social Media)

August 31, 2021

Palestinian media reported yesterday that an Israeli court rejected the release of a Palestinian woman who is nine months pregnant and due to give birth in detention.

Twenty-five-year-old Al-Deek from the town of Kafr Ni’ma, west of Ramallah, was detained when she was four months pregnant.

Last week, she appealed to the international community to pressure Israel to release her and allow her to give birth outside prison.

“What should I do if I give birth far from you? I am tied up, how can I give birth via cesarean section when I am alone in prison?” Anhar wrote in a letter to her family, adding:

“I am exhausted, and I had severe pains in the pelvis and severe pain in my legs due to sleeping on the prison beds. I do not know how I want to sleep on it after my delivery operation.”

The Permanent Observer Mission of the State of Palestine to the United Nations in Geneva sent an urgent appeal calling for the international community to take action to release her.

The mission reported that she is facing harsh conditions, and is now on the verge of being placed in inhumane and unsanitary conditions as delivery nears. It also called on the international community to intervene immediately, in support of international law, and to take decisive action to compel Israel to release her and all prisoners who are being arbitrarily detained, especially women and children.

There are around 4,850 Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons, including 41 women, 225 children, and 540 administrative detainees – held without charge or trial, according to institutions concerned with prisoners’ affairs.