The detainee: Nafez Herez, 47 years old, was detained in November 25th, 1985 and sentenced to life. He is married and has 6 children: 4 sons and 2 daughters. His family lives in the Al-Daraj Neighborhood in Gaza. During his detention by the Israeli Occupation Forces, his children grew up, were educated to various levels, married, and had children. That his children were married in his absence gravely affected his health.

In her affidavit, Nafez's wife Sana said "At midnight while we were sleeping, Israeli Occupation Forces broke into our home, inspected it all over, and then arrested my husband and took him to an unknown destination. Later, Israeli authorities accused him of resisting the occupation and sentenced him to life imprisonment. He now serves his sentence in Nafha Prison. In response, she approached ICRC to notify them of her husband's arrest. She said "at that time we didn’t know where they imprisoned him, and we didn’t see him until his trial on March 3rd, 1986, five months after his arrest. Meanwhile, he was sentenced to life and stayed in Gaza Central Prison... We – I, his parents, two of his children- used to visit him every 15 days in Gaza Central Prison, we were the only people allowed to visit him at that time. My husband stayed 7 months in this prison where his interrogation took place. Two months after my husband's detention, I delivered my youngest daughter Soha. Later on, he was transferred to Ashkilon Prison, where we visited him once every two weeks…we were anxiously waiting for his visit. His visit was like a feast as we used to divide ourselves – his sons, daughters, parents, brothers and friends – to visit him periodically. As visits ended, tears fell from our eyes, and we wept throughout our return back to home as we were forced to leave our dear one in the prison behind the bars. His mother suffered very much, and many times she became sick for many days. Also, his children used to ask about him: "When he will come back" and "Why they imprison him?" They even asked why their peers had dads, and they didn't…so many questions that I couldn’t find answers for. But for me, so many nights I stayed unable to sleep, overwhelmed by thinking about him, and whether or not he will be released or not… I also was extremely worried about his condition, wondering whether he's fine or not… I miss him very much…"

Nafez's wife Sana added "This condition continued along his imprisonment in Gaza Central Prison, but later on, he was transferred into Ashkilon Prison in Israel. We used to visit him every 15 days; but now we were going through tremendous suffering to visit him for only half an hour. We had to get up near dawn and gather in a particular place with the relatives of other detainees to start the journey of ordeal. ICRC would organize our visits and we took clothes, food and other stuff that Israeli prison authorities allowed. The journey was very arduous and full of waiting. This hardship continued for 6 consecutive years, once every 15 days."

Throughout this period, Sana' suffered very much, and held heavy burdens of responsibilities due to the economic hardship and her husband's absence. She says: "I had to take care of my children and secure their livelihood; besides, I had to secure my husband's needs in the prison including clothing, bed-covers and basic foods. I depended on my father-in-law who was the sole bread winner for the whole family where my children and I lived. Actually, he was working as a servant at a municipality where he earned only a modest amount of money. My children had no new clothes for the feast. They wore old clothes that we received from charity when they went to school. After a year of this hardship and strife, we started to receive a monthly allowance (about 80 Jordanian Dinars), besides some assistance from Ministry of Social Affairs. Many times, we were in need of basic items, but couldn’t get them due to severe hardship."

After six years in Askhilon, the Israeli prison authorities transferred my husband again into Nafah Prison where the suffering of the family to visit him increased. We were getting up near midnight so as to arrive at the Nafha Prison for a half-hour visit from behind the bars and barbed wire. During the visit, we were exposed to humiliating and dehumanizing inspection conditions where the elderly and children were thoroughly inspected. Sometimes they were obliged to strip off their clothes during inspection in addition to the prolonged waiting at several stations before the very limited visit. Actually, this lasted for a year in 1992. Later on, following a dispute with Nafha Prison guards, however, Nafez was placed in 3-month-solitary confinement. During this period, he was denied family visits. After that, Nafez was transferred to Beir Shiva Prison where the family could visit him. He spent a month among other inmate detainees; however, his brother Barakat was assassinated by Israeli Occupation Forces as he was a wanted activist. Consequently, Israeli Prison Authorities confined him in a solitary cell in Beir Shiva Prison for a year and two months; Yet, we were allowed to visit him once every 15 days.

In 1994, he was returned to Nafha prison where he stayed till 1998. In this year, Nafez's oldest son, Ahmad got married in the absence of his father. When the family visited him after his son's marriage, Nafez was severely affected by his son's marriage and became sick and hurt as he hoped to attend the wedding of his first son. His sickness continued for 6 months, and as his weight decreased to 35Kg, he was transferred into the prison's clinic, where physicians gave him only Aspirin, the regular medicine given for ill detainees for all purposes.

Yousef El-Areer, who was detained in 1980s many times and sentenced to twenty years, died as a result of medical negligence in the Israeli jails despite petitions from several human rights organization calling for his release because of his deteriorated health conditions. All such calls were ignored by Israeli Authorities. As a result, the whole inmate population protested against Nafez's critical condition, citing particularly his disease and the likelihood that he might die during his severe illness. Thus, the Prison Authorities transferred him into Ramla prison where there is a hospital. Nafez's wife continued: "I was allowed to visit him and found that his health was deteriorating." Even then she was allowed to see him for 15 minutes only. She said that her husband stayed for a year in the Ramla prison's hospital, where he underwent surgery for anal piles although his actual condition was a stomach ulcer. His health status didn’t allow performing any more surgeries. In 1999, he was transferred into Askhilon Prison and spent 6 months where his health got better. Meanwhile, his oldest daughter got married; As a result, he felt extremely sad and his health conditions deteriorated more and more. Further, the family was not happy during the wedding and missed him. On the other hand, doctors diagnosed his disease and found that he's suffering from a gland in his neck. Therefore, he was transferred into Askhilon prison where he was treated in its hospital for a week, and then he was set in quarantine for about two weeks. In this period, his wife and daughters visited him; but stayed far from him because he had infectious disease.

Sana' went on: "At the beginning of 2002, we were not allowed to visit him for "security reasons"." Furthermore, his sons were also prohibited from visiting him because of Israeli procedures and restrictions. The fact is that Israel has set a law that prevents all children whose age is 16 years and above from visiting their relatives in the prison and this prevention is still valid up to these days. In 2003, my husband was transferred to Hedarim prison where he stayed until 2005. Meanwhile, we were also prohibited from family visits, and obtained news only from ICRC and other detainees' families who were allowed to visit their relatives in the Israeli jails, and thus reassuring us of his conditions through their detained relatives. In addition, we sent him letters and got in touch with him through post; but, many times our letters didn’t reach him. He stayed two years in Hedarim prison till May, 2005, and after that he was transferred into Beir Sheva prison. During this time, I, my mother-in-law and youngest daughter obtained permits to visit him, but when we went to visit him, we were not allowed to cross at Erez Crossing under the pretext of security reasons, despite having permits through ICRC. In September, 2006, I obtained a permit and visited him in Beir Sheva prison. This visit was full of tears and weeping as it has been a long while since I have seen him. A glass fence separating the prisoners and they could speak through telephone. In this scene, feelings of happiness to see him and sadness and pains of this difficult situation mixed. Nafez's wife said; "I couldn’t touch him or speak with him directly. After that, I could not visit him until 19 February 2007, yet I was prohibited from the next visit on 19 March, 2007. Then, Israeli government has prohibited all family visits to the Palestinian detainees since June 14th, 2007 and thus we have been denied visits with him until now due to the strict siege imposed on Gaza. Yet, we know our detainees' news through lawyers from Israeli human rights
organizations. Nafez was transferred from Beir Sheva prison to Nafha prison on 29 January 2008, and we are so anxious about him as we couldn’t visit or contact my detained husband for 23 years. The fact is that Nafez's sons and daughters got married and have families and children while their Father is still detained in the Israeli jails and couldn’t share their joy with them." Sana expressed her sadness and grief toward her husband who hasn’t seen his grandchildren and because of his deteriorating health condition. "We eagerly and patiently wait for his return to us…" says Sana.
Sana added "Throughout the 23 years of his imprisonment, Nafez participated in many hunger strikes with his inmate detainees in order to improve their humanitarian and living conditions in Israeli jails."

After the bloody incidents in Gaza that took place in June 7th, 2008, Nafez's son – Mohammad 24 years - was injured in his neck and foot. Now, Mohammad is in serious conditions. Meanwhile, Sana is preoccupied with her husband's detention and the fact that, while her son's injury requires surgery, he cannot obtain a permit for treatment in Israel despite obtaining medical referrals to Al Maqased Hospital in Jerusalem and to Naser Hospital in Egyp. Mohammad doesn’t have access to other places for medication due to security denials and the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip. Aware of his son's injury and his nephew's death during the clashes in Gaza, Nafez experiences profound sadness and misery because of the internal incidents and continued siege imposed on Gaza Strip…