Releasing Hajja Nafisa Khweis on condition of deportation from the Old City of Jerusalem
On Sunday morning, the Magistrate's Court judge decided to release the Jerusalemite Nafisa Khweis, on the condition that she be deported from the Old City for 28 days, pay bail, and sign a bond. The ban on her entering Al-Aqsa Mosque will remain in place until November.
Lawyers from the Wadi Hilweh Information Center in Jerusalem, Mohammad Mahmoud and Firas al-Jabrini, explained the details of the decision, confirming that Nafisa's previous arrest took place Saturday morning from inside Al-Aqsa Mosque. She was first transferred to the al-Silsileh Gate police station, then to the Al-Qishla police station in the Old City, before the officer decided to extend her detention and transfer her to the al-Maskoubiya police station in west Jerusalem.
Speaking about her experience in detention, Nafisa Khweis confirmed that her night at the al-Maskoubiya police station was "very harsh and difficult."
She explained that she was subjected to a strip search at al-Silsileh Gate police station, where her hands were tied, and that she was kept at al-Qishla police station in extremely hot conditions, with her hands and feet cuffed and restricted from movement. Authorities refused to allow her to take her necessary blood pressure medication from her personal bag.
She added that she was transferred to al-Maskoubiya, where she was repeatedly strip-searched and placed in solitary confinement for several periods. She described the conditions there as extremely poor, with no food or drink provided.
She explained that the charge against her was that she entered al-Aqsa Mosque despite the deportation order, but she denied this, asserting that she had been deported from al-Aqsa since last May. At the time, the interrogator informed her that she was banned from entering until mid-July, but she was surprised to be arrested.
