Conceiving behind bards

Smuggled Sperm Gaza – Mohammed Habib The Palestinian Centre for Prisoner Studies has confirmed that a number of married detainees, especially those to serve long sentences have made attempts to conceive children while inside prison despite resistance from prison authorities. The centre stated that “the main reason for the failure to conceive was the death of the sperms while travelling the distance, the complexity of the process of transporting sperm outside the prison and the inability to provide suitable temperature for the sperms to remain alive until implantation.” Freed detainee Raafat Hamdouna, director of the Prisoner Studies Centre and member of the Islamic and National Prisoners Committee added that “detainees have discussed this issue inside prisons for more than 12 years from a religious and social viewpoint.” “The main problematic issue, was through society questioning the legitimacy of the pregnancy of a detainee’s wife while he’s captured which may be solved by a public campaign clarifying the religious permissibility of the matter if the conditions set by scholars are met.” Scholars state that a detainee and his wife have the natural right to have children, but when it comes to artificial insemination, some procedures need to be followed to ensure the legitimacy of this step by providing witnesses that confirm the sperms belong to the husband, in addition to witnesses from the detainee and his wife’s families to prove the legality of the child and cut rumours short. They confirmed that “Shariah allows artificial insemination for normal couples, and so for a detainee’s wife to conceive in this manner from her husband is permissible according to the conditions and procedures that conform with the jurisprudence rules of this matter”. The next step is to smuggle the sperm from prison and implant them under supervision of the family and doctors. many cases where the media succeeded in driving away any security or ethical queries.   Freed detainee Tareq Ezz Al-Din, general manager of the Sout Al-Asra (Detainees’ Voice) Radio, had plans of implantation before a deal was made that freed him. He said that this issue was discussed in all prisons and detainment places, while married detainees especially those serving long sentences discussed its pros and cons. Many detainees support this step, he added, and many for personal circumstances had to make many attempts that turned fruitless for medical or other reasons. Ezz Al-Din added that “despite all failed attempts, we will probably soon hear about the first successful attempt to see a baby, Muhammad, whose sperm came unannounced from inside prisons”. The Prisoners Centre posed the question of what specialists and media professionals have prepared to form a public opinion that helps society accept this phenomenon as part of the detainees’ struggle.