Lida al-Rimawi gave birth to a healthy baby boy named Majd Ramallah – Nihad Al Taweel A Palestinian man imprisoned in an Israeli jail became a father on Wednesday and while that may not constitute news in itself, the announcement has made headlines around the world because Abdul Kareem al-Rimawi has been imprisoned in an Israeli jail for the past 13 years and has only seen his wife from behind a glass wall.
Rimawi’s wife, Lida, 34, gave birth to a healthy baby boy named Majd, Palestinian news agency Ma’an reported. The baby was conceived at the Razan clinic by IVF after Rimawi’s sperm was smuggled out of the prison.
The new mother said the reason that made her smuggle out her husband’s sperm was that he was ?arrested by the Israelis 12 years ago and she had only one daughter.?
Lida told the press after giving birth “I know that time is not in my favour in having children as I’m?? 35 years old, I dream of a big family that can compensate for being deprived of my husband all the ?years he has to stay in prison.”?
Head of the Razan clinic, Dr Salem Abu Khairzan, told Arab Today that four artificial inseminations with smuggled sperm have so far succeeded “The first time was in 2012 when the centre announced the delivery of the first ?IVF baby of the prisoner Amer al0Zein. The announcement at the time was a surprise and a source of ?joy to Palestinians,” the doctor said.
The details of how the sperm is smuggled have not been revealed because of security concerns.
The prisoners are separated from their visitors by glass panels and are denied conjugal visits, a spokeswoman for the prisons told US newspaper The New York Times.
According to medical sources, there are 16 women who claim to have become pregnant by smuggling their husband’s sperm from Israeli prisons, Ma’an reported
Artificial insemination is expensive, but the Razan Centre offers their services for free to the wives of ?Palestinian prisoners, on the conditions that their husbands are serving long-term sentences and that the women are not too old.
Khairzan told The New York Times that he considers the procedure a human issue, and not a political one. He explained that many women are too old to conceive more children once their husbands are released from jail, and that he received a fatwa from a cleric allowing the procedure.
About 4,800 Palestinians are jailed in Israel prisons. At least 1,000 are serving sentences of more than 20 years.