Palestinian Detainees Beaten, Humiliated, Mistreated by Israeli Soldiers and Interrogators in Ofer Occupation Prison

Palestinians beaten, sexually humiliated by Israeli captors, ex-prisoners say

Date: 17 / 05 / 2008 Time: 17:34
Ramallah – Ma'an –

Beatings and sexual humiliation are among the torments suffered by Palestinian detainees at an Israeli prison located near the West Bank city of Ramallah, new testimony from prisoners indicates.

Twenty-one-year-old Ramallah resident Sultan Abdullah Sulaiman was recently released from the Ofer Prison, officially known as Incarceration Facility 386. In interviews with lawyers from the Palestinian Prisoners Society, he said that he spent forty days in solitary confinement in the facility.

Sulaiman said that during one interrogation session, Israeli soldiers brought an "Iraqi girl" called "Nora" into the room. "Nora" danced "seductively" in front of Sulaiman, moving close to him before moving away, he said.

Sulaiman said that the Israeli soldiers beat him on his feet and legs, at one time making him unable to walk for two weeks.

During his forty days in solitary confinement, he was kept in a "cold, smelly, cell … like a tomb." He said the soldiers would push a plates of food towards him with their boots. At night, Suleiman was kept awake by the sounds of soldiers beating on the door of the cell, and the screams of other prisoners being tortured.

The Prisoners Society also spoke with 36-year-old Iyad Hamayel, also from Ramallah. He said Israeli soldiers arrested him for throwing stones, a charge he denies. One soldier picked up a stone and beat him in the head with it, striking him to the floor. Hamayel was forced to march for an hour, all the while enduring more beatings, his hands tied with plastic handcuffs.

Other prisoners, including 15-year-old Bashar Ahmed Sofan, from Nablus, and 18-year-old Ammar Sulaiman Hassan, from Jericho, said that they are now suffering health problems, after being denied proper healthcare while inside Ofer prison.

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