I was crossing the Allenby Bridge on my way home back from Jordan on 8 August 2023, when I was pulled aside by an Israeli border police officer. He handed me a summons, filled out in Hebrew, requesting that I go to the police station at Binyamin settlement for questioning. The police then drove me to an area near Jericho called Al-Oja where I was dumped at a petrol station. I called my father to come and pick me up and he did. I told him what had happened.

 

The following day I went with my father as requested to the police station. I got there at around 8:30 a.m. My father and I were let in but we were separated; my father was taken into one room and I was taken to another. I was shackled and handcuffed to the front with metal handcuffs which were painful. At around 9:30 a.m. I was taken for interrogation.

 

The interrogator wore civilian clothes. Before asking me any questions he called a lawyer for me. The lawyer told me I was going to be interrogated and advised me not to confess against myself or anyone else. The interrogator was not listening to the conversation which lasted less than two minutes. 

 

The interrogator did not inform me of my right to silence. He accused me of confronting settlers with stones and a Molotov cocktail. He also accused me of driving an unlicensed car. I denied all the accusations. He gave me a specific date about one-and-a-half years ago, and a specific location. He then showed me a photograph as evidence. I continued to deny the accusation. Then he told me my father had confessed against me when he was questioned in the next room. He told me my father confirmed the boy in the photograph was me. I continued to deny the accusation. At this point the interrogator became aggressive and yelled at me saying my father had confessed against me and that I had to confess.

 

The interrogator questioned me for about one-and-a-half hours. At the end he asked me to sign a document written in Hebrew. When I asked him what it was he told me it was none of my business. I told him I was not going to sign anything I did not understand. Then he told me it was a medical report saying I did not suffer from any diseases and that the prison authorities needed this report before admitting me. I then signed it. 

 

After being interrogated I was taken to a cell at Binyamin where I was left until around 6:00 p.m. Then I was taken to Ofer prison, near Jerusalem. I was searched in my boxer shorts before being taken to section 13. The following day, 10 August 2023, I had a military court hearing. My father attended. I did not understand anything because the hearing was conducted in Hebrew without translation. 

 

After the hearing my lawyer told me the military judge decided to release me on bail because my father works with the Palestinian authority and he spoke to the commissioner of Palestinian prisoners’ affairs. My father had to pay NIS 2,200 bail and I was released the same day. 

 

My lawyer told me I had to come back to court again on 4 September 2023. I went back to court on 4 September with my father and the hearing was adjourned until 9 October 2023. The hearing on 9 October 2023, hearing was postponed till the 13 November 2023, because of the war.