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20 Jan 2025:
61-year-old Khalida Jarrar is the highest-profile Palestinian captive to be freed as part of the ceasefire deal on Sunday. An activist and lawmaker in the Palestinian Legislative Council for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Jarrar has spent more than six years in prison over the course of five separate imprisonments in the past decade, most of which were under administrative detention without charge. For the last six months, she endured solitary confinement in a 2-by-1.5-meter cell.
She was re-arrested in December 2023 on accusations of ‘support for terrorism,’ according to the Israeli government, and was being held under administrative detention without charge. Israel’s use of this charge has been widely criticized for its vagueness and overly broad application. It frequently includes acts that would not traditionally be considered terrorism, such as social media posts critical of Israel, participation in peaceful protests, or alleged affiliations with Palestinian political groups. At the time of her re-arrest, Jarrar was researching the experience of women prisoners as a researcher at Birzeit University’s Muwatin Institute for Democracy and Human Rights.
Her lawyer reported that she was being held in solitary confinement in inhumane conditions–a stifling 2.5 by 1.5-meter cell, furnished only with a concrete bench and a squalid toilet, where air is so scarce that Jarrar must lay down on the floor of the cell to get a good breath through the crack between the cell door and the floor. Neve Tirza, the women’s prison in Ramla where Jarrar was imprisoned, has previously been the subject of multiple Ha’aretz investigations detailing its overcrowded conditions, excessive usage of solitary confinement, and cells that offer each prisoner only 2 meters of personal space.
Over the many years Khalida Jarrar has spent behind bars, she has been formally sentenced only once. In 2021, she received a two-year sentence for “membership in an unlawful association.” Notably, the Israeli military court admitted she had no involvement in the organization’s “organizational or military aspects.” Jarrar pled guilty as part of a plea deal to avoid a longer prison term. Human Rights Watch condemned the conviction, calling it a violation of her right to freedom of association. Video: Al Jazeera reporting in 2017 on a previous round of administrative detention enforced on Jarrar
While imprisoned, Khalida Jarrar faced the devastating loss of her 31-year-old daughter, Suha, who died suddenly, reportedly of cardiac arrest. Suha was a respected researcher for Al-Haq, known for her work on the environmental impact of the Israeli occupation and gender issues. Despite her grief, Jarrar was denied humanitarian furlough to attend her daughter’s funeral.
Throughout her years in detention, Khalida Jarrar has suffered the profound loss of her mother, her father, and most recently, her beloved nephew Wadia, whom she raised as a son. In each instance, she was denied the opportunity to leave custody and bid a final farewell to her loved ones. Source: Middle East Eye
Jarrar also suffers from multiple health conditions, including deep vein thrombosis and diabetes, and like so many others trapped in indefinite detention in Israeli prisons, the horrific conditions imposed threaten her life.
Hours ago, the PFLP leader in the West Bsnk was finally reunited with her husband Ghassan Jarrar and her surviving daughter Yafa Jarrar after being released. Pictured: Ghassan Jarrar holding a poster of his wife. Photo by Moti Milrod Video: Lama Ghosheh (IG)
