Palestinian lawyer Diala Ayesh in isolation for second time since arrest last month by Israel

Palestinian human rights defender Diala Ayesh is under solitary confinement in an Israeli prison for the second time since her arrest in mid-January, her sister told The New Arab on Monday.

Ayesh was arrested at the "Container" checkpoint north of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank. She was placed under a 4-month administrative detention order in late January.

"Diala's lawyer has been able to visit her weekly since her arrest, and she told us that Diala was isolated the first time at the beginning of her detention for protesting the poor quality of food", said Aseel Ayesh, Diala's sister. 

📰 READ: @AJEnglish reports on woman human rights defender Diala Ayesh, 28, being held in administrative detention since January 17 without trial or charge:

We call for Diala to be immediately released!https://t.co/ct5dfTq5aL

— Front Line Defenders (@FrontLineHRD) February 13, 2024

"She was taken back to a crowded common cell with other female prisoners until recently she was placed under solitary confinement again, and we don't know the reason yet", the sister added. 

Diala Ayesh, 28 years old, is a lawyer and human rights activist. Her work has focused on Palestinian prisoners' rights in Israeli jails, appearing in local media and participating in international human rights conferences. She was detained briefly by the Palestinian Authority during protests against the killing of Palestinian dissident Nizar Banat in 2021.

"When Diala was arrested, we, her family, hoped that she would be charged with something, at least to know when she is going to be released", said her sister. "Unfortunately, she was given an administrative detention order, which means that she could remain under arrest indefinitely".

Palestinian human rights lawyer Diala Ayesh co-founded a collective of women lawyers to work on the unprecedented number of Palestinians jailed by Israel in the West Bank and Jerusalem after October 7th. On January 17th Israel kidnapped her. https://t.co/orpKNdKHX9

— 🍉Shailja STOP GENOCIDE Patel🍉 (@shailjapatel) February 15, 2024

"We are very anguished, especially because of the current detention conditions since 7 October, with a terrible sense of absence and missing at home", said the sister.

"My parents spend much time staring and sighing, speaking very little. Our life is literally interrupted", she added.

Under the Israeli military's "Administrative Detention" system, Palestinians can be arrested for up to six-month periods, renewable indefinitely, without charges.

Diala Ayesh is a Palestinian human rights lawyer in the occupied West Bank. Israeli authorities are holding her in “administrative detention,” "meaning she will be held without trial or charge for four months." For doing what? Being a human rights lawyer?https://t.co/hsrtkb3J5e

— Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) February 13, 2024

Since 7 October, Israel has arrested around 7,000 Palestinians, many of whom have been released later. Currently, some 9,000 Palestinians are held in Israeli jails, including 70 women, 200 children and 3,484 detainees without charges under the administrative detention system.

Last week, Palestinian prisoners' rights groups told TNA that they had suspended collaboration with the International Committee of Red Cross to protest what they consider the Red Cross's 'lack of action' towards Israeli abuses against Palestinian prisoners.