The launch ceremony of "Prisoners Speak about Their Suffering" book was held on Tuesday at the Islamic University of Gaza City.
The book was produced by Hadarat Centre for Political and Strategic Studies and the Centre for Oral History and Palestinian Heritage of the Islamic University, in cooperation with the Palestinian Writers Association, with funding from PALM Strategic Initiative Centre. The book contains the testimonies of 19 prisoners inside Israeli occupation prisons, documenting the lives and suffering of prisoners inside prisons, the first of its kind.

Hazem Hasanin, Director of Research and Studies at Hadarat Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, said: The idea of the book came after agreeing to collect audio certificates for a number of prisoners, including Abdel Nasser Issa, unloading it in writing, and presenting it on a school day, to be the speakers of their pain and suffering, even though they are not present among us. He added that the study day was held last June, reflecting the importance of collecting these certificates in a book, to be evidence to the violations of Israel's occupation of Palestinian prisoners in its prisons. Also, the book was translated into English.

Abd El Nasser Ferwana, Head of the Research and Documentation Unit of the Detainees' Affairs Commission, said: The book is a new, qualitative and unprecedented release. It is an addition to the Prisoner Movement for three reasons. The first is it includes the testinomies of 19 prisoners inside prisons, which is a large group. The second reason is that they are the speakers and they are the best able to reflect their suffering. The third reason lies in the diversity and varity of cases involving prisoners, between the experience of investigation, solitary isolation, medical negligence and administrative detention, hunger strike, repression, punishment, and the likes. 

Ferwana also stressed the need to invest the book as an important documentation tool and to present it to the court of international crimes to hold the occupation and its leaders accountable for its crimes against the Palestinian in general, and the Palestinian in specific. 

Zakaria Sinwar, head of the Islamic University's Center for Oral History and Palestinian Heritage, stressed the need to always stand by the prisoners to reach their voice to the world, until their freedom is attained, and said: "We do not support the prisoners, but we serve them and we do the role of sending their voice to the world. They are much bigger than that", describing them as lions, and lions do not need attribution.

This was confirmed by Bilal Abu Daqqa, spokesman for the Palestinian Writers Association, who said that the first thing the prisoner used before receiving the pen was stone, to inscribe on the walls of the cells as a form of resistance, and continued to struggle until he was able to obtain his right to insert the pen and learning tools, demonstrating the prisoners' strength and patience to take away his rights.

Mohammed Abu Oun, spokesman for PALM Strategic Initiatives Center, said that the Centre's sponsorship of this project is an extension of Malaysia's state of support and solidarity towards the Palestinian cause and its belief in the importance of promoting the Palestinian cause and strengthening the national narrative through scientific instruments, especially the question of prisoners, which is primarily a humanitarian issue and is a moral imperative.

Abu Oun hoped that the book's effort would bear extraordinary fruits that would enhance the mobilization of support for the cause of prisoners and transform those fruits into a significant reality that could constitute a qualitative shift in favor of prisoners and their rights.

The book was printed in 100 copies in Arabic and English, and its pages' number exceeded 100.