Palestinian lady gives birth to twins using smuggled semen from her jailed husband

By Awad Rajoub

RAMALLAH (AA) – A Palestinian woman gave birth to twins after smuggled seminal fluid from her husband, who is still held captive in an Israeli jail.

"By God's grace, I gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl named Mohamed and Khadija (respectively)," Ranan Hamed told Anadolu Agency on Friday from Ramallah Hospital, where the babies were born the day before.

Their birth through smuggled seminal fluid was challenging, "but it was a message to the occupier (Israel)," Ranan explained.

Palestinians referred to the births as "ambassadors of freedom."

Following the birth of the twins, the Palestinian Prisoner Club's spokesperson, Amani Farahneh, told Anadolu Agency that the number of freedom ambassadors has risen to 99.

Ranan is the wife of Islam Hamid, a 36-year-old Palestinian from Silwad, east of Ramallah, who has been held in Israeli prison for the past six years awaiting a court decision.

She stated that the court has not reached a final verdict in Hamid's case and expressed her desire for him to be released immediately so that he can "live in peace with his children and eldest son Khattab."

Her husband, she claimed, has spent a total of 18 years in Israeli jails.

Many Palestinian religious scholars such as the former Mufti of Palestine Ekrima Sabri, and the late head of the Palestine Scholars Association Hamed al-Bitawi issued decrees permitting women to become pregnant from their husbands’ seminal fluid smuggled from Israeli prisons.

Ammar al-Zabin, who is currently serving a life sentence, became the first father to a child born with smuggled seminal fluid in 2012.

* Writing by Bassel Barakat in Ankara​​​​​​​