[News] Palestinian quadruplets born from prisoner's smuggled sperm

[Anti-Imperialist News]

middleeasteye.net
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/palestine-israel-quadruplets-born-prisoner-smuggled-sperm>
Palestinian quadruplets born from prisoner's smuggled sperm
By MEE staff - June 13, 2023
------------------------------

Defying Israeli occupation, Rasmiya Shamali gives birth to four babies in
precarious circumstances

[image: Newborn Palestinian quadruplets, conceived with smuggled sperm from
their father imprisoned in Israel, are laid on a bed at their home in Gaza
city, on 13 June 2023 (AFP)]

Newborn quadruplets, conceived with smuggled sperm from their imprisoned
father, on a bed at their home, Gaza, 13 June 2023 (AFP)

Published date: 13 June 2023 17:14 BST | Last update: 2 hours 29 mins ago

The family of a Palestinian
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/palestine> prisoner's wife who
gave birth to quadruplets using smuggled sperm have welcomed her and the
babies home with "great joy" after they were released from the hospital.

Rasmiya Shamali returned to her hometown of Gaza on Monday with the four
babies - three boys and one girl.

They were born last month in a hospital in occupied East Jerusalem.

The 38-year-old is married to Ahmed Shamali, who has been held in Israeli
detention since 2008 serving an 18-year sentence over his "involvement in
anti-occupation resistance activity <https://qudspress.com/45465/>".

Rasmiya, who resides in the Al-Shujaia neighbourhood of Gaza City, told
Al-Araby Al-Jadeed newspaper that her attempts to conceive using smuggled
sperm began in 2018.

The first two attempts failed, but the third in October 2022 proved
successful and she became pregnant with four children: three boys named
Abdul Rahim, Rakan, and Rayan, and a girl called Najah.

Rasmiya added that her pregnancy was filled with challenges due to the
weight of carrying quadruplets. She adhered to doctors' advice not to
reduce the number of fetuses in her womb, which could have affected her
pregnancy.

In May, she was transferred from Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza to Al-Makassed
Hospital in Jerusalem after experiencing stress.

Najah Shamali, Ahmed's mother, told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that the children
reminded her of her son, with whom Rasmiya already had two children - now
aged 15 and 17 - who were conceived before his arrest.

"The prisoners continue to challenge the occupation in all its forms,
including through smuggling sperm to give birth to ambassadors of freedom,"
Najah said.

She added that "happiness remains incomplete in the absence of their
father," whose sentence ends in three years.
Defying occupation with smuggled sperm

Palestinian detainees and their families resort to conception through
smuggled sperm as the only means available to those held in lengthy or
indefinite prison terms, with restricted family visits.

Some Palestinian prisoners are reportedly permitted conjugal visits where
they can be intimate with their partners, however many decide not to opt
for this due to a lack of trust regarding privacy issues.

Ahmed and Rasmiya's quadruplets raise to 122 the number of children that
have been born to parents inside Israeli jails over the last 10 years,
according to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.

<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-female-prisoners-brutal-crackdown-guards-accused>

Israeli guards accused of brutal crackdown on female Palestinian prisoners

In August 2012, Ammar al-Zaban became the first Palestinian prisoner known
to have fathered a child with his wife using smuggled sperm.

Since then, smuggling sperm has come to be seen as a key part of the
Palestinian struggle against the Israeli occupation.

However, the smuggling process used remains shrouded in secrecy, with the
prisoner's family having the responsibility for delivering the sperm to
special laboratories.

In Shamali's case, the process began two days after receiving the smuggled
sperm and delivering it to the laboratory.

Abdullah Qandil, the director of the Waed Association for Prisoners and
ex-Prisoners, said that Palestinian prisoners' will to father children
while incarcerated "symbolises their ability to create life despite pain,
constraints, and imprisonment".

"It serves as a defiant response to the Israeli occupation's attempts to
diminish their spirit within prison walls," Qandil said.

According to the Addameer <https://www.addameer.org/statistics> rights
group, there are 5,000 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails as
of June 2023.

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