Held without charge: Webinar with Layan Nasir

Feb 3rd, 2025

Layan Nasir, freed after eight months detention without charge in the notorious Damon prison

Source: Amos Trust, Sabeel Kairos

The horrific conditions experienced by Palestinians inside Israeli jails will be discussed in a webinar with Layan Nasir and lawyer Tala Nasir, hosted by Amos Trust and Sabeel Kairos, on Tuesday, 4 February at 6pm (UK time.)

At 4am on Saturday 6 April 2024, Layan Nasir, a young Christian woman, 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 for eight months, until her release shortly before Christmas.

Since 7 October 2023, Israel has arrested or detained more than 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 7 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.

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

Layan and Tala Masir, a lawyer at Addameer Palestinian Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, will be joining tomorrow's webinar to discuss Layan's experience and that of thousands of other Palestinians in the Israeli judicial system. They will discuss 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.

Tala Nasir is a human rights lawyer at Addameer for Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association. She holds a Master's degree in law from Birzeit University.

Addameer (the Arabic word for Conscience) is a Palestinian non-governmental, civil institution that works to support Palestinian political prisoners held in Israeli and Palestinian prisons. Established in 1991 by a group of activists interested in human rights, the centre offers free legal aid to political prisoners, advocates their rights at the national and international levels and works to end torture and other violations of prisoners' rights through monitoring, legal procedures and solidarity campaigns.