Dalal Fawaz Youssef Halabi

‘Where is Saad's graduation party?’

This morning, I visited Damon Prison in Upper Carmel to meet with prisoner Dalal Fawaz Youssef Halabi (born 08.03.70), who was a trainer in the Emirates for decades, from the village of Rujib/Nablus, immediately after my meeting with Rama.

She told me about her arrest: ‘On the night of 29 January 2025, at three in the morning, two military units from Asira al-Shamaliya and Rujib came, handcuffed and blindfolded me, beat me and kicked me.’ She described her journey of torment until she arrived at Damon, and it later became clear that they had stolen her gold and money. According to her, she filed a complaint about this (Egyptian tuition fees for Fawaz and Saad, medical students in Hebron). When it became clear that there was no suspicion or evidence against her, she was placed under administrative detention for four months, which was extended for another four months.

She told me about her cellmates in Cell No. 7 (Aya Khatib and Karam Musa) and the other female prisoners in the detention centre, the beatings, the harassment, and the forced kneeling for an hour at the ‘ashnab’ (a Hebrew word meaning ‘energy’) in the small iron gate of the cell, which is locked from outside the cell. It is locked all the time and only opened to deliver meals. They were deprived of Eid al-Adha rituals and were not allowed to exchange greetings between rooms. There was no personal hygiene for the girls, no razors, no combs (the girls had not combed their hair for 10 months and combed it by running their fingers through it), and no sanitary towels (the young girls used towels and blankets).

She is worried about her son Muhammad and her son-in-law Ihab, who are detained in Megiddo prison, and her grandchildren (Hour, Hala and Ahmad; their father Ihab is detained in Megiddo and their mother Islam is detained in Damon). I wonder how they spent the last week in Rujib?), and worried about her daughter Tasnim and her children Sham, Quds and Hamada, and wonders, ‘What is the situation of her daughter whom she left in the car?’ She is worried about her daughter Iman and her son, and Muhammad's registration with the Jordanian Engineers Association, and misses them all.

She asked me to convey her regards to Abu Muhammad, Tasnim, and all the children, and to convey her regards to the families of the female prisoners. Aya insisted on knowing what gift she would receive from Aqaba.

When we parted, she suddenly said, ‘For God's sake, find me a place to attend Saad's graduation party.’

My dear Dalal, I send you my warmest regards, and freedom to you and all the free women of Damoun.

Haifa, 9 June 2025