world press photo - online exhibition 2021

17 August 2015 – Nael al-Barghouthi’s suit remains hanging in his bedroom in Kobar, near Ramallah, Palestine. Al-Barghouthi’s wife, Iman Nafi, keeps all her husband’s clothes and belongings in place. Al-Barghouthi was arrested in 1978 after an anti-Israel commando operation. He was released in 2011, married Iman Nafi, but re-arrested in 2014 and sentenced to life imprisonment. He has spent more than 40 years in prison—the longest-serving Palestinian inmate in Israeli jails.

25 January 2015 – Amma Elian, whose husband has been serving a life-sentence since 2003, sits with twins born following IVF, in Tulkarm, Palestine, in January 2015. Initially,. People were reluctant to admit they had had IVF as they were concerned about social and religious disapproval, but in 2017, the Palestinian Supreme Fatwa Council issued an edict permitting the procedure if men were serving long prison sentences.

4 August 2020 – A love letter sent by long-term prisoner Abdul Karim Rimawi to his wife Lydia.

25 January 2015 – A portrait of Atta Abdelgami hangs in his house in Tulkarm, Palestine. Abdelgami is serving a life sentence. He and his wife Rula Ali Ahmed have two children who were conceived using IVF. Portraits are seen not only as mementos of imprisoned men, but also as a means of bringing new generations closer to the resistance.

26 November 2017 – Wives, mothers, and children of Palestinian prisoners reach a checkpoint in Beit Seira, Palestine. Many face long journeys in order to cross into Israel to visit their relatives in prison. Some have to travel many hours to get to the prison for a 45-minute visit.

23 December 2019 – A separation barrier divides the Pisgat Zeev Israeli Settlement (left) from the Shuafat Refugee Camp, near Jerusalem. Palestinians complain of a feeling of being perpetually trapped behind the barrier, as if they lived in a large open-air prison.

14 December 2018 – Birds take flight at the sounds of gunshots, in Ramallah, Palestine. Israeli soldiers released teargas and fired gunshots to disperse protesters at one of the weekly Friday demonstrations at points along the border between Israel and Palestine.

17 December 2018 – Sondus Moghrabi plays on the sofa at home in Bethlehem, Palestine. Sonus in one of twin girls born following IVF. Her father, Ahmed Moghrabi, was arrested in 2002 during the Second Intifada on charges of being the local head of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, and is serving a number of life sentences.

20 December 2018 – Lydia Rimawi lies on her sofa in Beit Rima, near Ramallah, Palestine. Her husband Abdul Karim Rimawi was arrested in 2001 and sentenced to 25 years in prison for involvement in the assassination of Israeli tourism minister Rehavam Ze’evi. The couple have a son, Majd, who was born as a result of IVF in 2013. In 2014, Abdul Karim was fined around US$1,500 for smuggling his semen from prison, and deprived of family visits for two months.

21 December 2018 – An old television, unable to pick up a signal, is suggestive of the difficulties in communication between men in prison and their families.

4 August 2020 – Majd Rimawi is pictured on a cell phone on his seventh birthday. Majd, whose father has been in jail since 2001 serving a 25-year sentence, was conceived using IVF.

21 November 2017 – Manwa Shaheen (35) holds her son Ali (five months) at a window in Ramallah, Palestine. Her husband Ahmad was arrested in 2001 and sentenced to 22 years in prison. Ali was conceived using IVF.

20 December 2019 – Majd Rimawi rides his bicycle in front of the family home, in Beit Rima, Palestine. Majd, whose father has been in jail since 2001 serving a 25-year sentence, was conceived using IVF.

25 September 2016 – Olive trees in Palestine reflect light coming over the separation barrier from Israel. Olive trees carry more than just economic significance in the lives of Palestinians. They are considered symbolic of Palestinians’ attachment to their land, and their longevity is seen to represent continuity.

10 January 2011 – A woman who works for the Palestinian Prisoners Club, a non-governmental organization that supports Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails and their families, waves the Palestinian flag, in Jericho, Palestine.

22 December 2019 – Majd Rimawi plays with his cell phone in Beit Rima, Palestine. Majd, whose father has been in jail since 2001 serving a 25-year sentence, was conceived using IVF.

20 December 2018 – Majd Rimawi walks in the rain with a cardboard box over his head, in Beit Rima, Palestine. Majd, whose father has been in jail since 2001 serving a 25-year sentence, was conceived using IVF.

21 November 2017 – An image of former leader of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, Yasser Arafat, is seen through the fog on Al-Manara square, Ramallah, Palestine.

25 September 2020 – Over the years, families with whom the photographer has established a close relationship have given him mementos of prisoners and their children.

21 December 2019 – A model boat, made by a prisoner, floats on the Dead Sea in Palestine. Prison inmates often make objects to give to their loved ones during family visits.

25 November 2017 – A heart-shaped medallion made by a prisoner for his daughter, in Abu Dis, Palestine.

13 December 2019 – Mazen Rimawi’s shadow falls onto a curtain at the home of his brother-in-law Abdul Karim Rimawi, in Beit Rima, Palestine. Abdul Karim was arrested in 2001 and is serving a 25-year sentence. He is father to Majd, who was born in 2013 following IVF.

18 December 2019 – Hanadi Moussa Moghrabi sits with her twins, Nour and Sondus, born following IVF, in their home in Bethlehem, Palestine. Her husband Ahmed was arrested in 2002 during the Second Intifada on charges of being the local head of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, and is serving a number of life sentences.

11 December 2020 – A portrait of Abdul Karim Rimawi, given to the photographer by the Rimawi family. Over the years, families with whom the photographer has established a close relationship have given him mementos of prisoners and their children.

27 July 2015 – Lydia Rimawi travels with her son Majd to visit her husband in prison. She leaves home at 5am and has to take three different buses and pass through a checkpoint to reach the prison.

18 January 2015 – A baby born a few hours earlier lies inside an incubator at Al-Shifa Hospital, Gaza.

26 January 2015 – Remah Bauod, whose husband is serving four life sentences, lies beside her newborn daughter Racha, conceived following IVF, at the Razan Center for Infertility, in Nablus, Palestine.

24 September 2016 – Rafeef Ka'abneh (4), who was conceived following IVF, sits in her garden in Jericho, Palestine. Her 49-year-old father is serving two life sentences.

22 December 2019 – A portrait of Mazen Rimawi, a former Palestinian political prisoner and uncle to Majd Rimawi, whose father is serving a 25-year sentence. Majd was born in 2013, following IVF.

30 July 2015 – A chocolate bar conceals a pen case, a favored method of smuggling semen out of prison.

1st Prize, Long-Term Projects – World Press Photo Story of the Year

11 December 2020

Antonio Faccilongo, Italy

Getty Reportage

Habibi

Nearly 4,200 Palestinian security detainees are being held in Israeli prisons, some serving sentences of 20 years or more. Conjugal visits are denied and physical contact is forbidden, except for children under the age of ten. Since the early 2000s, long-term Palestinian detainees hoping to raise families have been smuggling semen out of prison, hidden in gifts to their children. Habibi (‘my love’) chronicles people’s courage and perseverance against the backdrop of one of the longest and most complicated conflicts in modern history.

The photojournalistic perspective of the photographer, along with the uniqueness of the story, have created a masterpiece. This is a story of human struggle in the 21st century: a story about those unheard voices that can reach the world if we as a jury act as a medium. It shows another side of the long contemporary conflict between Israel and Palestine.

Ahmed Najm, General Jury member

The story looks into a series of families, who are trying to smuggle semen from husbands in prison to wives who are trying to conceive, and so continue their family legacy, and in a broader sense, continue the existence of this very particular community that has been threatened over time.

NayanTara, General Jury chair

Audio Commentary

Aesthetic Considerations

Hear the Photographer