Israelis arrest Palestinian mother when she visits son in prison

Ma’an – Israeli forces arrested mother of a Palestinian detainee Wednesday morning, as she entered the Gilboa prison to visit her son.

Sameh Rafiq Daraghmah, from the West Bank city of Tubas, told lawyers from the Northern West Bank Prisoners Society that his mother, Fathia Ibrahim, had been arrested by police. He said he was not informed of the reason for her arrest.

According to a spokesman for the Israeli Prisons Authority, the 55-year-old woman was attempting to smuggle a mobile phone into the facility for her son. The representative did not say how the woman managed to evade metal-detection systems and physical search checks, but noted that when the phone was discovered, the police were called and she was taken away.

Her son Sameh was sentenced last year to a 16-year term for resisting the occupation. The prison representative said his family had been barred from visits following the arrest of his mother.

Director of the prisoners society Mahmoud Sawafteh denounced the arrest, which he said "aimed at harming the prisoners and their families, it is part of a systematic policy carried out by the Israeli prison administration."

Sawafteh called on the Red Cross to intervene and ensure the safe release of the woman.