Israeli soldiers raided our home at around 4:00 a.m. I woke up to the sound of aggressive banging at our front door. My father opened the door and around eight soldiers came into our house with lots more outside. My sister, who was 15-years-old, was terrified to see soldiers in our home.

 

The soldiers went straight to my wardrobe and took out a T-shirt and a pair of trousers. They threw everything else on the floor. Then they told us me and my father were under arrest. They did not give us any documents.  Once outside a soldier blindfolded me and tied my hands behind my back with three plastic ties: one on each wrist and another connecting the two. The ties were tight and painful. They also tied my father’s hands. 

 

The soldiers then took us to the back of a jeep. I sat on the metal floor and my father sat on a seat. We were then driven to a nearby military base. We were left in the jeep for a short while and then they drove us to the police station in Binyamin settlement. At the police station I was separated from my father. I was taken to a room where I was left for about five hours, tied and blindfolded and I found it hard. I was not given any food but I was given some water and I was allowed to use the toilet. 

 

After about five hours I was taken for interrogation. They did not allow my father to attend my interrogation.

 

The interrogator wore an Israeli police uniform. He removed the blindfold and started to ask me some questions but I refused to answer and insisted on speaking to a lawyer first. The interrogator tried to deter me and told me a lawyer would cost my family a lot of money. I told him I did not care and insisted on speaking to a lawyer. He then slapped me and then called a lawyer and allowed me to speak to him. 

 

The lawyer asked me whether they had taken any clothes from our house. He then told me not to talk a lot and advised me to be brief. I spoke to the lawyer for about two minutes and the interrogator left the room during the conversation.

 

When the interrogator returned to the room he accused me of incitement on Facebook. He then searched my Facebook page and found a video of a young man from our village who had been shot dead by soldiers.  He questioned me without informing me of my right to silence. 

 

The interrogator was aggressive and yelled at me. He asked me whether my parents had enough photographs of me to hang on the wall to remember me because he was going to lock me up in prison for five years at least. He told me if I confessed he would take me to the military court where I could apologise to the judge and I would be released. I told him I had not done anything wrong and was not going to confess. 

 

The interrogator questioned me about four times; each time for about 30 minutes. At the end he showed me a document written in Hebrew and asked me to sign it but I refused to sign. 

 

After the interrogation I was taken to Ofer prison, near Jerusalem. I arrived there at around 11:00 p.m. I was strip searched before being put in section 13.  Two days later I was taken to Ofer military court. My mother and sister were there. The military judge decided to release me because the prosecutor did not present a charge sheet.

 

After the court hearing I was taken back to prison where I was told I was going to be released. I was released without charge on 11 June 2023. I went home with another family from my village. I arrived home at around 9:00 p.m. My father told me they had questioned him separately and showed him photographs of me on the road when settlers raided our village. I was not doing anything, just watching.