By Randa Darwish
Suha Jbara, a Palestinian activist has been detained by the Palestine Authority since November 3, 2018. Amnesty International reported Jbara was tortured and punished for going on hunger strike.
The 31-year-old Palestinian activist who holds U.S. citizenship told Amnesty recently she was beaten, slammed and tortured through sexual violence by her detainers after she decided to go on a hunger strike to protest her arbitrary arrest.
Translation: “Palestinian mother detained in PA prisons in Jericho and tortured. The charge is helping the families of those that are martyred and those that are in prison on the occupation (Israeli) jails."
Accordingly, she narrated in “horrific” detail about her prison conditions and torture. Suha, who had a seizure and was taken to hospital, confirmed she was transferred from the hospital to Jericho Interrogation and Detention Centre.
Beside being arrested during a violent raid into her home, Jbara has also been denied access to lawyers to help her in the case.
Palestinian social media users and human rights activists have tweeting widely on the Suha Jbara “سهى جبارة” [Suha Jbara] hashtag.
Many expressed their support and demanding her release.
Translation: “Unfortunately, the PA keeps violating their international obligations. Detention of Suha Jbara has been renewed for another 15 days. However, she is still resisting this tyranny by her hunger strike despite her critical condition.”
Suha is not the first prisoner to be tortured in PA prisons. Human Rights Watch released earlier this year a report on violations committed by the Palestinian Authority and Hamas on their own people inside the West Bank and Gaza.
The report indicated that the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority and Hamas have been systematically arresting and torturing peaceful dissidents.
However, the reason why Jbara's story made its way into the international media is believed to be because of being a U.S. citizen with her case being reported by some American outlets.
For Palestinians who have been overwhelmed for the past 70 years defending their homeland under Israeli occupation, it has become clearer over time the PA in the West Bank and its rival Hamas in Gaza Strip, have been busy fighting each other to maintain their authoritarian systems instead of leading Palestinians toward freedom.
