Name: Hanan Saleh Abdullah Barghouti "Umm Anad"
Date of Birth: 13/10/1964
Residence: Ramallah - Kober Town
Marital Status: Married
Date of Arrest: 5/3/2024
Legal File: Administrative detention
Prison: Damon
The arrest:
Less than four months after the release of the administrative detainee Hanan Barghouti, known as "Umm Anad," from Kober town in the Ramallah district, the occupation forces re-arrested her in March of the current year, 2024, and transferred her to administrative detention once again. She was initially arrested in September of the previous year, 2023, and was placed in administrative detention for four months before being released on November 24, 2023, as part of the prisoner exchange deal. On March 5, 2024, occupation forces raided the home of the detainee "Umm Anad" in the early hours of the morning, asked for her identification, informed her of her arrest, detained her, and left the house.
Administrative detention is a form of collective punishment and a policy of retaliation
After a few days of Hanan's arrest, an administrative detention order was issued against her for a period of 3 months starting from the current month of March and ending in June of the current year 2024, renewable. Despite a detention confirmation session, there is still no decision on the duration that Hanan will spend in detention. But what has occurred for the occupation to re-arrest her administratively despite the short period she was released in the first arrest?
The detainee Hanan Barghouti, also known as "Umm Anad," is the sister of the prisoner in occupation prisons, Nael Barghouti, who has been detained for more than 44 years. She is also the sister of the late prisoner Omar Barghouti, "Abu Aasif," who spent more than 30 years in occupation prisons before his death. She is the mother of four children: Anad, Abdullah, Omar, and Islam, who are currently detained administratively in occupation prisons. Due to the nature of life imposed on her by the arrest of her brothers and sons and her travels for visits from one prison to another, and facing challenges as a prisoner's family, she has faced practices imposed by the occupation forces, whether during family visits to prisons and the harassment and psychological torture faced by prisoners' families in the procedures adopted by the occupation, or during the repeated army raids on the family's home and the practices by occupation soldiers. All of this has made her active and a defender of the rights of detainees and prisoners, making her a target for arrest as a mother of prisoners and a sister of a prisoner. During a phone interview with her husband, "Abu Anad," who confirmed to us that the occupation's current practice of arresting his wife and sons, and his arrest as well, is nothing but a policy of revenge against the family. He also informed that one of the occupation officers during one of the raids on his house told him that he would leave him "alone," and this is indeed what happened to this family.
The arrest of Hanan Barghouti and her detention without charge for a second time in a short period between the first and current detentions demonstrates how the occupation uses administrative detention as a policy of collective punishment against the members of a single family, as seen with Hanan's family, which has been torn apart by repeated arrests, specifically administrative detention. Administrative detention has become an easy and convenient policy, an alternative to court proceedings that targets any Palestinian, whether they are relatives of prisoners or human rights defenders, who tries to be active and influential against the ongoing crimes of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza or war crimes within occupation prisons. The occupation has expanded its use of administrative detention, particularly after October 7th, and has arrested thousands of Palestinians, bringing the number of administrative detainees today to approximately 3,558, the highest number since the beginning of the occupation. Those imprisoned today under administrative detention are held for unknown periods based on what is called the "secret file," which forms the basis of the arrest and deprives the detainee and their lawyer of the right to defend against or know and refute the charges. Hanan is currently held in Damon Prison with 67 other female prisoners, including 19 administrative detainees, the highest number in years.