Israelis 'chained pregnant prisoners to beds'

A PALESTINIAN human rights group slammed Israeli treatment of female prisoners in a new UN-sponsored report, saying pregnant women are often shackled on their way to hospitals to give birth. The women prisoners are held in "Israeli prisons and detention centres which were designed for men and do not respond to female needs", a report by the Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association said. The report was sponsored by the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM). Pregnant detainees "do not enjoy preferential treatment in terms of diet, living space or transfer to hospitals", it said. "Pregnant prisoners are also chained to their beds until they enter delivery rooms and shackled once again after giving birth."