- Rami Aman was arrested for establishing a so-called Zoom between Israeli and Palestinian peace activists.
- He received pressure from Hamas officials to divorce his wife – the daughter of a high-ranking official.
- Aman ended up signing the divorce papers, but remained in prison for another two months, the AP reported.
- See more stories on the Insider business page.
Palestinian activist Rami Aman said he was forced by the militant group Hamas to divorce his then wife to secure his release from a prison in Gaza, according to the Associated Press.
Aman told the news agency that after months of pressure from Hamas officials, he eventually gave in to the pressure and proceeded with the separation.
The requirement that he divorce her is considered a move by the militant group to distance itself from Aman’s decision to start a speech with Israeli peace activists last year, the AP reported.
His ex-wife is the daughter of a senior Hamas official, the AP said.
Since then, she has been deported from Gaza, against her will, and Aman told the news agency that he may never see her again.
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Aman was arrested after a reaction against him for helping to set up a
Enlargement
chat between Israelis and Palestinian peacemakers, Anthony L. Fisher of Insider reported in April 2020.
He was one of more than 200 people on both sides of the Israeli-Gaza divide who participated in Zoom’s English chat, initiated by Aman’s organization – the Gaza Youth Committee.
After a Facebook campaign by a Palestinian journalist to embarrass those who attended and the subsequent outrage on online social media, Aman was charged with the crime of “normalization” with Israel.
His ex-wife was also arrested, the Associated Press reported.
After Aman’s arrest on April 9, 2020, he said he was interrogated and tortured. He says he was blindfolded, taken to a prison cell and forced to sit in a child seat for days or weeks on end, according to the AP.
He was referred to by his prison number, was only allowed to remove the blindfold to go to the bathroom and could only leave his chair to be interrogated or prayed for, AP reported.
During his arrest, a police officer would have told him that it would be “better” if he sought a divorce. He resisted the request for months, the AP said.
In August, an Islamic judge asked him if he felt coerced into separation. Aman said yes, but the judge, the activist told the AP, refuted. “How are you being forced? Do you see me carrying a gun?” he says the legal officer told him.
Aman, 39, ended up signing divorce papers, hoping to be released, but remained in prison for another two months.
“The deplorable treatment of Rami Aman by the Hamas authorities reflects his systematic practice of punishing those whose speech threatens his orthodoxy,” Omar Shakir, Israel-Palestinian director at Human Rights Watch, told the AP.
His ex-wife, who was deported to Egypt, confirmed to the Associated Press that she was forced into divorce and wants to meet with Aman.
Aman is now banned from leaving Gaza and security officials are still holding his laptop, computer and phone, the news agency said.
He is in frequent communication with human rights organizations, lawyers and Hamas officials, the AP reported.
But your priority is to be reunited with your lover.
“Now I have my personal battle: to return to my wife,” the activist told the news agency.