First Palestinian Prisoner to Defend PhD Thesis in Israeli Prison

Press Release - August 14, 2003
On 16 August 2003, at approximately 10 am, Nasser Abdullah Abdel Jawwad Odeh, will defend his doctoral thesis from Megiddo Military Prison, the first time a Palestinian prisoner has been allowed to do so. A thesis committee will convene at Najah University in Nablus and hear his defence on Saturday by mobile phone. Odeh, a 38 year old father of two from Deir Balout, was able to secretly complete his thesis, entitled “Islamic Tolerance Towards Non-Muslims”, whilst serving a 12 year sentence.

 

Upon completing his thesis in prison, Odeh requested from the Israeli Prisons Authority that representatives from his thesis committee be allowed to enter the prison so that he could conduct his defense. The prison administration refused, but did allow that the defence take place through mobile phone contact with the committee members.

 

Odeh completed his BA at Jordan University, and went on to finish a Masters degree at the University of Modern Science in Amman, Jordan. He was arrested on 9 July 1993 and subsequently sentenced to 12 years imprisonment. He has served 10 years and 1 month of his sentence in a number of prisons, including Al Jalami, Jneid, Ramleh, Kfur Yuna, Asqelan, and Megiddo military prison, where he is currently serving the remainder of his sentence. He registered as a PhD student at the Arab American Open University, based in Washington DC, and has been completing his thesis in coordination with Najah University in Nablus.

 

Odeh’s thesis was completed only because of his perseverance in studying whilst in prison, smuggling papers and research work out of the prison in order to meet the requirements of his PhD. Severe restrictions are placed on access to education for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons. Palestinian adult prisoners are permitted to study only through designated Israeli open university programs. Numerous attempts by prisoners and human rights organisations to allow study at Palestinian and Arab universities have been rejected for ’security reasons’. Additionally, Palestinian prisoners are limited in the choice of topics they may study, with restrictions placed on subjects such as “Democracy and Dictatorship”, “History of the Middle East by the New Historians”, and “Democracy and National Security”, amongst other similar course subjects.

 

Many prisoners are unable to register at Israeli universities because of financial and language restrictions. Additionally, detainees being held at military detention centers and prisons, such as administrative detainees, detained indefinitely without charge or trial, are prohibited from studying during their detention. Child detainees are allowed limited access to education, with boy child prisoners offered daily instruction based on the Israeli school curriculum at Telmond Prison, but not allowed to study at Megiddo or Ketziot military prisons. The prison administration often does not allow books into the prison for independent study, and even when they are allowed, time for study is often prohibited or taken away as a form of punishment. Girl child prisoners are not afforded access to education. However, Israeli criminal juvenile prisoners are allowed to continue their formal education whilst in prison.

 

Article 77 of the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners stipulates that:

 

(1) Provision shall be made for the further education of all prisoners capable of profiting thereby, including religious instruction in the countries where this is possible. The education of illiterates and young prisoners shall be compulsory and special attention shall be paid to it by the administration.

 

(2) So far as practicable, the education of prisoners shall be integrated with the educational system of the country so that after their release they may continue their education without difficulty.

 

While Addameer welcomes this unprecedented move by the Israeli Prisons Authority, the basic and minimum rights to education for prisoners as stipulated under international law must be ensured for all Palestinian detainees and prisoners.