Journalist held in solitary has lost 16 kilograms, prisoner groups say

Bushra al-Tawil has one set of clothes and no winter blankets, and repeated requests to see the prison clinic and for painkillers have been ignored, she told a lawyer for the Commission of Detainees' and Ex-Detainees' Affairs. The Commission said on Nov. 4 that she has lost 16 kilograms since her arrest.

Al-Tawil, a journalist from al-Bireh, has been held since February in administrative detention: jailed without charge or trial, on secret evidence. She is alone in Section 6 of Ohalei Oz prison in Beersheba, the Commission said, after isolation since August at Damon and Neve Tirza prisons. On Nov. 2 it was renewed for another month. She told the lawyer she does not know why she is isolated.

She also described dark spots covering her skin from a scabies infection, and tendon inflammation in both hands and feet.

On Nov. 6, Al Jazeera, citing Amani Sarahneh, a media director at the Palestinian Prisoners' Society, reported that al-Tawil had to drink contaminated water and that cameras watch her cell around the clock. Prisoner-support institutions have been able to visit her only three times, the outlet reported.

Neither report included a response from the Israel Prison Service.

She has only one set of clothes to wear.— Bushra al-Tawil's account, as reported by the Commission of Detainees' and Ex-Detainees' Affairs (translated from Arabic)