Mashahera to Al Jazeera Net: For the first time I heard the word “Baba” from the children of the smuggled Natfi | Politics

Istanbul – On September 4, 2002, the Israeli occupation authorities arrested Fahmi Mushahira, a Jerusalemite, and sentenced him to 20 life sentences, after accusing him and his brother Ramadan of delivering a martyr who carried out an operation that killed 19 Israelis in 2002.

Mashahira was freed on Jan. 25 as part of the exchange deal between the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and Israel.

In an exclusive interview conducted by Al Jazeera Net with him and his wife in exile TurkeyBefore answering any of the questions, the Jerusalemite liberator was determined to address the Palestinian resistance.

“To our saviors, rescuers and liberators from the oppression of the occupation and its jailers, you are the people of pride and dignity,” he said. Peace be upon Gaza, which won the nation before Palestine and Jerusalem, which raised the status of every Arab and Muslim. We do not care whether we are in prisons, in graves, or in exile, our lives are all for God and for His sake, and then for the sake of honor, dignity, and land.”

Mushahira spoke about his and his wife’s story of having four children through sperm smuggled from prisons, what he misses most about Jerusalem and other issues.

The following is a transcript of the interview:

• Did you expect to be released in a swap deal someday, or was that hope gradually fading over time?

There was always relative hope, depending on the strength of one’s faith in God and the circumstances surrounding us as prisoners and the wars on the northern and southern fronts of the country.

I can say that we never gave up, and hope surrounded us from every direction. Despite the long time that passed while I was in prison, the day came when he stopped at the doorstep of my cell when God willed it, with honor and dignity that cannot be measured by words or deeds.

• Your name was not included in the list of deportees, but you left the country of your own free will, why?

I chose exile because of my personal security and my unwillingness to live in constant tension for fear of being arrested again. In addition, my brother Ramadan was deported, so we went into exile together.

• What was your first stop in Egypt, and what is your life like now in Turkey?

Hosting Egypt -and then Turkey, for not failing us at all, but the joy is still incomplete and bitter because of what is happening to our people in Gaza in terms of massacres, killing and destruction and genocide We ask God Almighty to end the war soon, or God wills for something greater, and our brothers behind us will be released.

• What do you miss most about Jerusalem?

Jerusalem The eyeballs miss its alleys, squares and trees and the dome of the rock and for its people who, if you live with them, you cannot part with them.

• Your wife gave birth to 4 children through smuggled sperm, perhaps the largest number among the prisoner movement, why did you decide to go through this experience?

God Almighty blessed us with six children, two before my imprisonment, Obaida and Zeina, and four after my arrest, Aziza, Eid, and the twins Aya and Ahmed, who came out of the womb of prisons and after a long period of my imprisonment, the first of which was 12 years after my arrest.

We were always asking ourselves, “What can we do?” We had a lot of ideas because having a child in prison was always on my mind, but all legal and legitimate methods failed in the face of the intransigence, oppression and bullying of the prison administration.

The idea of continuing my life and increasing the number of my family members while I was sentenced to 20 life sentences was the most appropriate way to slap this self-aggrandizing security guard, who is the opposite.

When the jailer received the first slap in the face with the smuggled sperm from prisoner Ammar al-Zabin, he received hundreds of slaps from every prisoner who implanted the smuggled sperm as part of what was known as the “Ambassadors of Freedom”.

After confirming the Sharia fatwa and the consent of the parents on both sides, the implantation took place in the presence of two witnesses from each party at the place where the implantation took place, and we had our children through smuggled sperm in 2013, 2018 and 2023.

He was able to give birth to four of them through sperm smuggled from inside his prison Freed prisoner Fahmi Mashahra meets his children for the first time after 23 years in Israeli occupation prisons.

He was sentenced to 20 life sentences and was freed in the Tufan al-Ahrar deal between the resistance in Gaza and the Israeli occupation.

The “sperm… pic.twitter.com/zsHiyPg7as

– Al Jazeera Net | Quds (@aljazeeraquds) February 20, 2025

• How did you meet your five children, because we know that your son Ubaydah was deprived of meeting you?

Meeting my five children was a great dream that came true after it was pure fantasy, I used to dream every day that my body would embrace the bodies of my children, and I am still living this dream that really happened.

It’s hard to comprehend even now, but it is indeed a miracle, the twins Ahmed and Aya were born before the battle of “Al-Aqsa flood“I didn’t see them while I was in prison, but when I met them, they ran towards me with the word “Baba” echoing from their throats, reaching my ears and knocking on my conscience.

My five children, Zeina, Aziza, Eid, Ahmed, and Aya, have completely absorbed the meeting, and even now I haven’t fully realized the event, but as the days go by, the features of fatherhood and family become more apparent to me, as my children turn to me in times of need and when I return home, they run to me.

As for my meeting with Zeina, who was born before my arrest, it had a different flavor. Zeina, whom I forcibly left at the age of two, is a mother of three children, and that alone is a never-ending story, as for Ubaida, I am waiting to meet him soon, God willing.

• Is your life starting to stabilize now, and how do you and your wife plan for the future?

My life has not started yet, I still live the prison inside me, and I still dream of the prison, and in my prayers I pray to get out of it even though I am now outside it, thank God everything I need is available, and the brothers who were the reason for our release did not fail us in the slightest, but psychological stability and integration into society needs some time.

How did Samia ease the pain of captivity, and how did the letters between the two of you help strengthen your relationship as a couple?

My wife lived with me in every detail and lived the prison experience moment by moment, and she knew very well what shackling meant and the nature of the pain and suffering that we lived through on a daily basis.

She suffered for 23 years and more than I did, because she was the mother, father and educator. Um Ubaida is credited with raising my six children in the best way.

The letters I used to send to my wife, my children, my mother and my father were reassuring, and they hugged, kissed and celebrated when they arrived. My mother would hug my letters for a whole day, making everyone around her read them once, twice, and ten times, and my father always consoled her and gave her patience.

• Many have called Samia a “devoted wife.” What did Samia endure while she was away from you, and did she share the responsibilities of the children with you?

I left behind a great burden on Um Ubaydah, and I succeeded in carrying it, and by God’s appreciation I was blessed with this devoted woman who devoted her life for the sake of God and in patience with the affliction, and she is alone between 4 walls, raising her six children the best education, she deserves now to sit on the throne of comfort and stability, leaning on the fixed walls and the pillar of the house that returned thanks to God Almighty and the pride of the people of Al-Aziza.

As the late Sheikh said Ahmed Yassin “May God be pleased with me”, may the war end for our people in Gaza, may the remaining prisoners be freed from the prisons, and may the end of the Israel May God avenge us from all those who failed us and conspired against us, and may I live with my family in love, security and stability.

• Samia, describe how you felt the moment Fahmi’s name was included in the exchange deal.

Tongue-tied… I felt that night at the time of the dinner call as if the takbirs of Eid were echoing in my house, maybe it was a message from God because I was waiting for Fahmi’s name to be included in any of the sites where the lists of prisoners appear.

My children are waiting for their father on pins and needles and following all forms of media, hoping for news or any news that would tell them of his liberation, and when his name was listed, I prostrated myself to God in thanksgiving, and then I heard his name on the Al-Jazeera Channel Within the scheduled installment.

• Were you disappointed when your husband decided to travel abroad?

At first I felt anxious and feared leaving family, loved ones and neighbors behind, but later I convinced myself that I was waiting for this meeting, and that my children are eager to live with their father wherever he is, and I want him to carry with me the responsibility of life and children that I have been carrying for 23 years alone. I want us to live a life full of love, happiness and joy.

• How was the first meeting outside the prison bars, and did you have hope that Fahmy would be freed despite his high sentence?

The meeting was filled with complex emotions, from joy and delight to nostalgia for meeting the beloved after a long separation, and after a torrent of longing.

I knew that the day of liberation would come and the shackles would be broken and the cell would be removed. They see it far away, but we see it soon. I always hoped that Fahmi would be freed in an honorable exchange deal, and this hope kept me alive.

How did your children and Zeina, who is married, meet their father, and who developed a special relationship with Fahmy?

I didn’t expect Aya and Ahmed, who are less than two years old, to rush to my husband and call him “daddy” because they had never seen him before.

Aziza’s eyes are full of joy at her father’s presence, as is Eid, who dreamed of living with his father like the rest of the children in the world.

• How was the first meeting outside prison bars?

The first meeting was a moment like no other, in which tears mixed with smiles, joy and fear that the moment was just a dream. I saw him in front of me free, but my eyes were looking for the traces of the years, for the one who was absent. We were first silent, then hearts spoke, and I don’t need letters anymore because I see him alive in front of me, and that alone is a miracle.

• You told me that once upon a time you wanted to have more children through smuggled sperm because children and raising them keep you busy and make time go by, but Fahmy opposed this at some point and said he wanted to have children after his liberation, do you plan to have more children now?

Motherhood is a great blessing, and God has blessed me with six children that I am proud of, what we are thinking about now is to regain our lives calmly and give our children the security and love that has been missing for years, as for the topic of having new children, it is not an easy decision and needs internal preparation first, and the most important thing is quality in giving, not quantity.

• We know that exile is not easy and starting life from scratch is complicated, but how do you see life since Fahmy’s liberation, where will the children learn, and what are your future plans?

Exile is not easy, it is an uprooting from home and memories, but having my husband by my side after his release from prison and after a long absence gave me some peace and a sense of security, because together we face the estrangement shoulder to shoulder and this in itself makes the exile less harsh.

• Hundreds of letters titled “To Samia” were sent to you by Fahmy during his years of detention, and you keep them in two suitcases, did he write to you after his liberation, or did you turn the page forever?

The letters he wrote to me in prison were a life on paper, and they were our only way to stay together despite the walls.

After his release, we no longer need paper because we live today what we dreamed of in the lines, the words did not stop but changed, they became a real presence, the pages were silent for a while, but the heart is still writing.