Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails are smuggling out sperm in order to impregnate their wives, a fertility doctor has said, claiming the wife of a prisoner serving 32 life sentences gave birth to a boy last August and four other prisoners’ wives are pregnant after insemination.
Salem Abu Khaizaran, who works at a fertility clinic in Nablus, said 22 women had undergone insemination using smuggled sperm, but the success rate was low because of the difficulties of keeping sperm fresh during transportation from prisons in Israel to the West Bank.
Forty samples had been smuggled out of prisons, Abu Khaizaran claimed, though he declined to explain how. The Israeli prisons service expressed scepticism over the doctor’s account.
One of the pregnant women, Rimah Silawi (38), told a news conference: “We women are growing old and our chances of having babies in the future is diminishing.”
Her husband, Osama, is serving four life sentences for the murders of an Israeli and three alleged Palestinian collaborators 22 years ago.
“The wives of prisoners are suffering,” said Abu Khaizaran, who waives charges for the women’s treatment at the Razan medical centre.
“They feel they are lonely because their husbands are behind bars, some for the rest of their lives, and they are eager to have babies that can make a difference in their lives.”
There are about 4,500 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. Visits are restricted to 45 minutes and no physical contact is permitted. Prisoners are separated from their visitors by a glass panel, and only young children are allowed to touch their fathers. No conjugal visits are permitted. – (Guardian service)