I woke up to the sound of people outside and banging at our front door. It was 2:00 a.m. I got up to see what was going on and was shocked to see Israeli soldiers inside our home. There were also Israeli policemen accompanying the soldiers. The soldiers asked all the males in the house to gather in the living room and then asked for our identity card numbers. Then they searched our house. This took about 40 minutes.

 

After the soldiers searched our house they told my mother they were going to arrest me. They did not tell her why and did not give her any documents. The soldiers then told me to accompany them to the basement because they wanted to search it. They found a pipe that looked like a homemade gun. I had found it in the garbage as I sometimes collect metal. The soldiers immediately tied my hands to the front with one plastic tie. The tie was not painful. They also blindfolded me and took me into the back of a jeep which was waiting outside. I sat on a seat.

 

The jeep drove for about an hour and then stopped at an Israeli military base where I was taken to see a doctor. The soldiers removed the blindfold and the doctor examined me. I then sat on the floor for about 30 minutes before I was blindfolded and tied again and taken back to the jeep. The jeep drove for about an hour before it stopped at the settlement of Etzion where I waited for about an hour before an interrogator took me to a room.

 

The interrogator, who was in an Israeli police uniform, removed the blindfold and the tie and told me I had the right to remain silent and the right to see a lawyer. I told him I didn’t need a lawyer. He then accused me of manufacturing a gun at home. I denied the accusation and told him I didn’t make the pipe and that I found it while looking for scrap metal. The interrogator accused me of lying and wondered why there was a bullet inside the pipe. I told him I didn’t know there was a bullet in the pipe and I continued to deny the accusation.

 

He then accused me of throwing stones at the bypass road. I told him I had nothing to do with stone throwing. During the interrogation I asked to use the toilet but the interrogator told me he would allow me to use the toilet when the interrogation is over. I was in the room with the interrogator by myself. The interrogation lasted for about an hour and the interrogator focused his questions on the bullet inside the pipe.

 

The interrogator then printed out my statement in Hebrew and asked me to sign it and I did. I was then photographed and fingerprinted and then taken to a cell inside Etzion. I spent the first night with adult prisoners but the following night I was taken to a separate room where I stayed by myself. At around 4:00 p.m. soldiers shackled and handcuffed me and took me into a troop carrier where I sat on a seat. The carrier drove for about one-and-a-half hours before stopping at Ofer prison, near Jerusalem.

 

At Ofer I was strip searched before being taken to Section 13. The following day I had a military court hearing. My parents were not there because they were not notified but a lawyer was there. The hearing was adjourned. I had eight hearings. In the end I was sentenced to three months in prison and fined NIS 2,000. My family couldn’t afford the fine so I spent an extra month in prison.

 

As soon as I was sentenced I was transferred to Megiddo prison, inside Israel, where I spent the rest on my sentence. My family did not visit me in prison because they were not given a permit in time. In prison I studied Arabic and Mathematics. I became sick in prison and had problems breathing.

 

I was released from Megiddo on 12 June 2015. My parents were not informed of my release so I went home by myself. I was released at around 4:00 p.m. and I arrived home at around 10:00 p.m.