Held Without Charge
With Layan Nasir and Tala Nasir

Tuesday 4th February 2025
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At 4:00am on Saturday 6th of April 2024, Layan Nasir was taken away at gunpoint from her parent’s home in the West Bank town of Birzeit after 15 soldiers burst into her house to arrest her.

She was held without charge on administrative detention in Damon women’s prison until her release shortly before Christmas. Since 7th October 2023, Israel has arrested or detained over 14,000 Palestinians from Jerusalem and the West Bank and countless more from Gaza.

Currently, over 3,000 Palestinians from the West Bank and Jerusalem are held without charge on rolling administrative detention. Many have been detained for posts on social media or at ‘flying’ Israeli checkpoints. 

Layan’s case gained international attention, including condemnation by the then Archbishop of Canterbury, as she was the only Palestinian Christian woman in Israeli detention. 

Even before 7th October 2023, former Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said he wanted harsher conditions for Palestinian prisoners. That has become a reality, exacerbated by overcrowding.

Human rights: Tala Nasir from Addameer
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Currently, over 3,000 Palestinians from the West Bank and Jerusalem are held without charge on rolling administrative detention. Many of these have been detained for posts on social media or at flying Israeli checkpoints. 

The UN, human rights organisations and the media have documented widespread reports of abuse in Israeli jails, including torture and rape, since 7th October.

Layan and Tala Masir, a lawyer at Addameer Palestinian Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, joined us to discuss Layan’s experience and that of thousands of other Palestinians in the Israeli judicial system. They discussed the appalling conditions in Israeli jails and the widespread hunger, physical, sexual and psychological abuse of Palestinian prisoners — including children, as well as Tala’s work at Addameer.

Run in collaboration with our friends at Sabeel Kairos.