Photo Contest 2017 emerging photographers Palestine, Bethlehem. Manal Assaf (32) is the wife of Imad (37). Imad was sentenced to 25 years. This is the story of Palestinian prisoners’ wives who have turned to sperm smuggling in order to conceive children from their husbands who are serving long-term sentences. Around 7,000 Palestinians are serving time in Israeli prisons, with nearly 1,000 facing sentences of 20 years or more. Conjugal visits are denied and prisoners are separated from visitors by glass panels. In the past two years, 30 babies have been born through IVF. The Razan Fertility Clinic in Nablus and the Al-Basma Fertility Clinic in Gaza offer the treatment to prisoners’ wives free of charge, freezing around 70 prisoners' sperm samples and receiving more from behind the prison bars. Prisoners are allowed visits every two weeks and these last for only 45 minutes. Family members must be first-degree relatives. After a thorough body search, visitors are able to talk to their loved ones through a telephone from behind a glass window. Physical contact is forbidden, except for prisoners’ children, who are allowed ten minutes at the end of each visit to embrace their fathers. This is the secret way prisoners’ sperm manages to leave the prisons, and is these women’s only hope for a family. It is also one of their opportunities to join the Palestinian resistance. Details open: June 19th, 2017 at 00:00:00 (GMT+1) close: October 1st September 17th, 2017 at 23:59:59 (GMT+1) registration fee: CHF 15.- for all professional and non-professional photographers from 18 to 29 years old theme: reportage number of photos to submit: from 6 to 12 application on: www.photocontest.ch read the rules Prize prize Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II 12-40mm Kit offered by OLYMPUS SCHWEIZ AG exhibition during LuganoPhotoDays accommodation for 1 night in Lugano – single room with breakfast – on the occasion of the opening night Jury Alex Majoli, photographer Magnum Photos Roberto Borioli, direttore CSIA – Centro Scolastico per le Industrie Artistiche Marco Cortesi, direttore LuganoPhotoDays Didier Ruef, photographer