Ramon Prison; A Punishment for the Detainees and their Families

1 September 2007

by Ali Samoudi

Two weeks before visitation time, Raqiyya Al Wahsh, from the Jenin refugee camp, starts preparing for the harsh journey to Ramon Israeli prison to visit her detained son, Abdullah, a member of the Al Quds brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad.

The prison is located on the Egyptian borders, and considered one of the Israeli prisons that “punishes the detainees and their families”

This prison is seen as a place where Israel decided to punish not only the detainees, by placing them in this harsh and faraway detention facility, but also to punish their families who have to suffer for long hours before their reach the prison, and then they might be allowed to visit their detained family members.

“last month my son was moved to Ramon Prison, when I went to visit him, I did not expect that it will be that difficult, although every visitation is a harsh journey, but this one is extra-harsh and filled with obstacles”, the mother said.

“you need six hours to reach the prison, and six hours to go back home, we endure this harsh condition just to visit our detained family members, but when we are finally there, we can only visit for thirty minutes”, she added.

“the suffering does not end there, we are not allowed to have any direct body contact with our detained sons, we have to talk to them via-phone and look at them sitting there, behind this thick glass”, the mother said, “the busses which transport us are not allowed to park near the prison, they have to park away and we have to walk”.

She also said that once the bus driver mistakenly entered a wrong way, and they found themselves in a closed military zone. The soldiers surrounded the bus, searched it, searched the residents, and when they were allowed to leave, the driver lost his way again and ended in front of a settlement., and the settlers attacked the bus.

“visitation is a right, but Israel is making it a punishment, my son even asked me not to visit him next time, in order to spare me this long and harsh travel”, she added, “but who will visit him, my daughter, Boshra, was shot and killed by the soldiers inside our house, my other son Abdul-Rahman is wanted for membership in Al Quds brigades, my other son Abdul-Aziz, is not allowed to visit his detained brother, because he is an ex-detainee”.

Abdullah was sentenced to 23 years; the soldiers kept ambushing him every day, every night since two years, and killed his sister before kidnapping him.

She appealed human rights groups to intervene, and close the Ramon prison and move the detainees to detention facilities that are close to their cities, and to practice pressure on the Israeli authorities to improve the condition in the prisons and stop the attacks and violations against the detainees.