“The Damoun Flower”

Sally Muhammad Odeh Sadaka

After my meeting with prisoner Lina this morning at Damoun Prison in Upper Carmel, prisoner Sally Muhammad Odeh Sadaka (born 09.02.2008) from the village of Al-Madiya/Ramallah, an eleventh-grade science student, appeared.

She began by telling me about her arrest: on 5 January 2025, at the checkpoint, they took me to a camp. There were three young men in the room and they turned on the air conditioner to cool the room all night. The interrogation lasted from 3 p.m. until 1 a.m. The soldiers were moving around, They took me out of the jeep and started hitting me in the eyes with books and with a rifle on my face. I was silent and they beat me the whole way. When we arrived at the Muscobiya, the soldiers gathered and started beating me with their boots and laughing. Thirty-six days in the Muscobiya, very bad, no sun, no air, and you don't know what time it is. cut off from the world. The food was scarce and very bad. Shaden Qaws was with me (I loved Shaden very much and learned a lot from her. God willing, we will meet again soon. I always remember our song, ‘Our path makes us very happy,’ and when I read Surah An-Nas, I remember and laugh). I missed the sun. On the day Shaden's father died, the jailer was laughing all the time. Then they took me away, saying, ‘You're going home,’ and suddenly I found myself in Sharon. I loved it because I finally saw the sunset for the first time, from the energy, and I saw spring and the trees and the sunrise. I started crying, and when they asked me why I was crying, I spontaneously said, ‘I saw the sun after 37 days!’ Then I went to Damoun. The best two hours of my life were when I saw the sea from the bus.

I arrived in Damoun on 11.02.25. It was raining on the way. I arrived at the prison and could see the sky and the sun. The search was humiliating. Khoulia was Aya Khateeb. I was isolated in a grave and suddenly I saw girls, Aya Malak. I arrived at the courtyard and the rain fell on me. I was happy. Aya hugged me and embraced me.

Sally is in room 1, accompanied by the minor Hana Hammad.

The situation was bad when I arrived, and today it is much worse. Today they entered the rooms and took the young men's clothes. Only one change of clothes remained.

Hope is our life. The news is playing with us.

Thank you for your patience.

Give my love to my mum and dad, I miss sitting and talking with them (open the Qur'an, Surah Al-Baqarah verses 154-157, Surah Ar-Ra'd verse 24, I memorised Surah Al-Baqarah and Surah Al-Kahf), my aunts and cousins, and my friends (especially Shaza and Oreib, and Yara – I miss playing PUBG with them), and I miss my aunt Bilal, and greetings to her cousins, Tamer, Yamen and Sandy, and her uncles and aunts, and her master and his wife (Hani, I was locked up before you could feed me fesikh), and her teacher Umm Ahmad and Professor Samih, and the neighbours. She asks her mother to prepare the welcome gifts, and to let Selin tie her hair in horns, and to congratulate her aunt's daughter and cousin on their engagement.

She asked for the letters from the Damoun women to be delivered to their families: Walaa Houtri, Hana Hammad, Aya, Yasmine, Shatila, Hanin Jaber, Rama, Fidaa Assaf, Zahra (Bousouli Karam, Zain and Farah), Maysoun, Karam, Fatima Mansour, Amani Najjar, Islam Shuli, Lina Al-Mukhtasib, Ruba Dar Nasser, Asil Hammad, Banan Abu Al-Hija, Shahd Hassan, Bushra/Arous Al-Damoun, Samia Jwaida, Mervat, Masa, Umm Khalil, Salam Kasab, Sanaa Daqa/Umm Milad, Ibaa Al-Agbar Karam Musa.

When we parted, she said: ‘Mum and Dad: get ready, I'm coming back to you, we'll liven up the room, we'll dance and sing, the Quran course taught me a lot, and I'll teach my daughter too.’

The girls call me Warda al-Qasim and Zahra al-Damoun, they pamper me and spoil me.

To you, my dear Sally, my warmest regards, and freedom to you and all the free women of Damoun.

Damoun/Haifa, 14 July 2025