Palestinian journalist denounced sexual abuse in Israeli jails

Published at: 01/12/2025 09:27 AM

A Palestinian journalist reported being arbitrarily arrested by the Israeli army and held captive for 20 months in detention centers such as Sde Teiman and Ofer, where he and seven other prisoners were subjected to collective sexual assaults.

The victim asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation against his family. He reported that the soldiers immobilized them, blindfolded them and transferred them to an isolated area of the camp, according to a press release from Telesur.

He indicated that the acts of violence included the use of a trained dog by Israeli forces. In Sde Teiman, where he stayed for a hundred days, he suffered physical and psychological torture, sleep deprivation, hunger, religious insults, lack of medical assistance and electric shocks, as well as prolonged interrogations.

He said that the violations occurred in closed spaces, in front of Israeli soldiers and officers, without any control or sanction. He said that the attacks intensified when the occupiers discovered his work as a journalist, accusing him of spreading false information and threatening him with life imprisonment. He described overcrowded conditions, unsanitary conditions, epidemics, lack of food and water, prohibition of prayer and humiliation.

According to his family, after the abuse, he suffered a two-month nervous exhaustion that deteriorated his physical and emotional health. Doctors and legal experts confirmed that the victims have symptoms of acute and post-traumatic stress as a result of the events.

The journalist claimed to have witnessed the death of detainees, including academics and doctors, under unclarified circumstances. “We spent fall and winter in torn summer clothes. We were sleeping on the floor,” he said. “We went into those prisons alive. We left with a exhausted body and a shattered soul.”

Local organizations claim that these acts are part of a systematic policy of repression against Palestinian prisoners, which uses sexual violence as a control mechanism. The Al-Shifa medical complex in Gaza called this case one of the most serious crimes against journalists in Israeli prisons and highlighted the need for an international investigation.

Mazo News Team