Jossephine Kwabiwaa, a 32-year-old “heavily pregnant Ghanaian worker” is currently being held in complete isolation, under horrific conditions in an Israeli prison,” the CAJnews Africa reported on Wednesday.
Kwabiwaa has reportedly been “placed in isolation for four months after her refusal to test for tuberculosis (TB).”
Josephine Kwabiwaa, 32, from ghana was put into prison custody with a 4 month pregnancy just because she refused to be tested for tuberculosis.
This is ridiculous because the baby can be affected during the test so far as x-ray is concerned radiation will surely take place. pic.twitter.com/uDT5GmO3rZ
— No Room For Racism (@room_racism) January 21, 2020
“For four months, no one on the Israel Prison Service’s medical staff who met Jossephine alerted anyone about the harm that could be caused to her as a result of her isolation or demand that it end,” said Anat Lidvin, director of the Physicians for Human Rights’ Department for Prisoners.
Netanyahu's scramble for Africa:
Selling water, weapons and lies
23/07/19 | Ramzy Baroud || @AJEnglish https://t.co/A7Nn4v7QDN— Nelly Melba (@yemenkurdistan) July 24, 2019
The story of Kwabiwaa sheds light on the mistreatment of African migrants and Israeli citizens of African descent, which endure many forms of discrimation, racism and, often, violence.
“This case shows how the Israel Prison Service violates the rights of prisoners and endangers their health and lives,” Lidvin told Haaretz.
These Chains Will Be Broken: New Book Delivers Resistance Message from Palestinian Prisoners to the World https://t.co/hTVLJV18RA pic.twitter.com/eqo1xx6x8w
— Therese (@Th2shay) January 21, 2020
“Government authorities must work to transfer the responsibility of medical care for prisoners from the Israel Prison Service to a body that knows medicine and that can provide treatment in line with accepted standards in the public health system in Israel while maintaining the rules of ethical medicine.”
Israel’s mistreatment of Kwabiwaa has sparked outrage in Ghana.
Ghanaian lawmaker, Ras Mubarak, told the Afro-Palestine Newswire Service that “Israel’s treatment of Jossephine Kwabiwaa is racist and inhumane. Israel says it cares for Africa, but its long history of racism against Africans tells a very different story.”
Israel jails & tortures 1000s of men, women, students and children to maintain its exploitation of Palestine: we shld all be furious #FreeMays https://t.co/P7YIn4IM5n
— Sarah Wilkinson (@swilkinsonbc) January 19, 2020
Kwabiwaa has been “forced to pay for medical examinations and pregnancy supplements, like folic acid and iron. The cost of some of her pregnancy checks have been taken out of funds that she was supposed to use to purchase food items at the prison canteen,” the Center further reported.
Israel is often criticized for its mistreatment of Palestinian prisoners including women and children, according to Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association Addameer, there are currently 5,000 Palestinian prisoners, including 458 administrative detainees – held without trial – in Israeli prisons.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
