Palestinian Anhar Al Deek welcomes baby boy after release from Israeli prison

Al Deek was arrested in March on charges of trying to stab Israeli settlers in an illegal farming community

Demonstrators secured the release of Anhar Al Deek, who has since given birth in the occupied West Bank. AFP

Former prisoner Anhar Al Deek has given birth to a baby boy just days after Israeli authorities, under pressure from protests, allowed her to post bail.

Ms Al Deek delivered her son, named Alaa, at Al Istishari hospital in Ramallah city, in the West Bank.

She was released from an Israeli prison last Thursday – under house arrest – after paying bail of 40,000 Israeli shekels ($12,480).

“I feel more secure” Ms Al Deek, 25, told The National from her hospital bed, where she is recuperating after a Caesarean section.

“I can’t describe how I feel, there is a huge difference between being in the hands of occupation or among my family and my nation.”

She said she hopes all Palestinian women in Israeli prisons will be free soon.

Ms Al Deek was arrested in March, when she was four months pregnant, on charges of attempting to stab Israeli settlers in an illegal farming community near the village of Kafr Ni'ma, near Ramallah city.

Until last week she was among 40 women at Damon Prison awaiting trial .

Ms Al Deek’s husband, Thaier Al Hija, said she and the baby are in good health.

“The idea that Anhar could give birth inside the Israeli prison made us feel fear and anxiety, we didn’t know what could happen inside the prison,” Mr Al Hija said.

“Today I want to thank everyone who helped in releasing Anhar, so she can give birth among us,” he said.

Ms Al Deek had written to her family describing her fear of giving birth alone in what she called “absolutely abnormal and inhumane conditions”.

Alaa is her second child, after a girl, Jolia, was born two years ago.

“I am so happy that Anhar is among us, I can now take care of her in a good way, will feed her well and help her with her baby,” Aisha Al Deek, her mother, told The National from the hospital.

“If Anhar delivered her baby at the prison it would have been like a funeral for us, but instead today our happiness is indescribable by receiving the new baby among us,” she said.

According to the Palestinian National Information Centre, Wafa, 34 Palestinian women are still detained in Israeli prisons.