Palestinian detainee raped several times on multiple occasions by Israeli prison guards: Report

Occupied Palestine (Quds News Network)- A Palestinian detainee was raped several times on multiple occasions by several Israeli male and female prison guards, a new report exclusively published by Al Hadath on Wednesday reveals.

Palestinian S.A., 44, was raped on Nov 1, 2023, when Israeli soldiers asked him to take off all his clothes, then he was asked to bend over and start rotating around an electronic pole.

The complaint states “Every time he turned around, the prison guard who was searching him put his fingers in his anus and forcefully inserted a stick into his anus. After that, they put him in a small room, and again the prison guard inserted his fingers and a stick into his anus.”

The rape that the prisoner was subjected to was committed in the presence of the commander “Doron” of what is known as “Fortress” in the Negev Prison, the security officer “Raz”, and the intelligence officer “Ilan”.

The detainee. S.A. from the West Bank adds in his complaint: “After that, I was transferred to another cell and was beaten. They threw me on my stomach, and the prison guards jumped on my back and beat me. At midnight, they returned me to Room No. 14 in Section 27.”

The complaint states that on the following day, November 2, several prison guards beat S.A. and other prisoners, causing them serious injuries.

On November 3, 2023, several prison guards and officers stormed the cell of S.A. in the middle of the night and began beating him and his inmates. They then took him to the bathroom, continued to beat him, and inserted a stick, as well as a carrot and a cucumber, into his anus. This was repeatedly inserted into his anus at least 10 times, causing him severe pain.

The second rape incident was committed against two other prisoners in addition to the complainant. It was done in the presence of a female prison service officer named “Dima”, the commander “Doron”, the security officer “Raz”, the prison service officer “Walid”, and the prison guard “Adam”, per the complaint.

The complaint also stated that on another date that S.A. does not remember exactly, a number of prison guards stormed his cell and one of the prison guards put his hand inside his pants and inserted his fingers into his buttocks. He subsequently requested to be transferred to the prison clinic, but his requests were not met.

S.A. indicates in his complaint that he was in a very difficult psychological state after these incidents, as he felt humiliated, afraid and isolated, while his rapists roamed free around him.

Israel’s police is still delaying its response to the complaint and refusing to clarify whether they have opened any probe against those named in the complaint, according to the victim’s lawyer Wiam Baloum, according to Al Hadath.

There has been a growing body of evidence of abuse, sexual assault and the systematic withholding of food and medical care that Palestinians endure within the Israeli prison system, particualry since October 7.

A report titled Welcome to Hell, published last month by the Israeli human rights advocacy group, B’Tselem, includes interviews with 55 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli detention centres since October 7. In firsthand accounts, the prisoners, recount being assaulted, insulted and sexually abused by guards.

Torture recorded in Israeli detention facilities, has led to the death of at least 60 Palestinians while in Israeli custody in less than 10 months.

The systematic nature of the abuse across all facilities left “no room to doubt an organised, declared policy of the Israeli prison authorities,” B’Tselem said.

The policy has effectively turned Israeli prisons into “torture camps,” the rights group noted in its 182-page report.

B’Tselem added the torture prisoners faced included: “frequent acts of severe, arbitrary violence; sexual assault; humiliation and degradation, deliberate starvation; forced unhygienic conditions; sleep deprivation, prohibition on, and punitive measures for, religious worship; confiscation of all communal and personal belongings; and denial of adequate medical treatment.”

Last month, a video emerged of a gang rape of a Palestinian detainee by Israeli guards at the Sde Teiman detention facility in the Negev desert.

The video shows the detainee being selected from a larger group lying bound on the floor. The victim is then escorted to a wall, where guards, using their shields to hide their identity from the camera, proceed to rape him.