How Hamas prisoners elect leaders behind bars
Even locked in Israeli prisons, Hamas members contribute to the movement's decision-making process by holding leadership elections every two years.
Hamas members incarcerated in Israeli prisons recently held elections to determine their leadership for 2017-19. Although these elected members remain behind bars, they have great influence within the Hamas leadership outside prison and they weigh in on major Hamas decisions.
Prisoners participated in all 22 Israeli prisons, including the largest — Ketziot — as well as Ofer, Ramon and Megiddo. There are about 1,800 Hamas prisoners among 7,000 total Palestinian prisoners from different factions, according to Riyad al-Ashqar, the former director of the media office in the Palestinian Ministry of Prisoners Affairs in the Gaza Strip.
The elections, held in late January, determined the "supreme leadership body" for all Hamas prisoners.
“These elections took place over four stages," Abdel Rahman Shedid, the director of the Asra Media Office, a Palestinian prisoner rights advocacy group, told Al-Monitor. "In the first stage, 360 members representing the Hamas General Conference were chosen to elect the Shura Council, composed of 51 members distributed over the various prisons. The second stage was held to elect the 11 members of the supreme leadership body from among the members of the Shura Council. The president of the body was elected in the third stage, and his deputy in the fourth."
