I was in bed when Israeli soldiers opened my bedroom door and woke me up. I woke up panicking and it took me a few seconds to comprehend what was going on. It was around 2:30 a.m. One of the soldiers asked me to hand over my telephone. 

 

The soldiers seemed to be in a hurry and only remained in our house for about 15 minutes. They told me they wanted to arrest me. They did not give my parents any documents and did not tell us the reason for my arrest. 

 

At the front door a soldier tied my hands behind my back with two plastic ties connected to each other like a chain. The ties were tight and painful and caused my hands to swell. Then he wrapped a cloth around my eyes and led me for about 15 minutes towards the military jeeps. 

 

A soldier pushed me into the back of a jeep and made me sit on the metal floor. The jeep drove to a nearby military base. I was left in a shipping container, sitting on a chair until around 9:00 a.m. I was able to sleep part of the time. At around 9:00 a.m. I was taken somewhere else where I was strip searched. A doctor gave me a quick medical examination. Then I was taken to Al Jalama interrogation centre inside Israel. I arrived there around noon.

 

I was taken to a small room, the size of a small bathroom, and they left me there for about an hour. Then I was transferred to a small cell where I spent 22 days in solitary confinement. The cell measured about 2x2 meters, with no windows and a light that was left on 24 hours a day. I could not tell day from night and I was in deep mental and psychological stress. There was a mattress on the floor, a sink and a toilet all in that small space. 

 

At times I felt I was going crazy and wished there was something for me to kill myself with; I did not want to live anymore. I pleaded with the guards to let me out but they refused. During the first two weeks I was interrogated on a daily basis, five times a week. The interrogations lasted for hours. 

 

My first interrogation session was on the day I arrived. I was taken to the interrogation room while I was still tied and blindfolded and the interrogator questioned me for about 30 minutes before he removed the blindfold and the ties. He questioned me from around noon until the evening without informing me of my right to silence and without allowing me to speak to a lawyer.

 

The interrogator wanted me to tell him what I had done and told me he was not going to release me unless I confessed. He told me he had confessions from other people about me saying I helped somebody do something. I denied the accusations. He started off being calm but became aggressive when he realised I was not going to confess. He threatened to keep me in prison for a year if I did not confess.

 

Towards the end he told me I had the right to consult with a lawyer but did not call a lawyer for me. He did not say anything about the right to silence and he did not ask me to sign any documents.

 

The interrogation sessions were repeated on a daily basis, five days a week for the first two weeks. I never spoke to a lawyer and was not informed of my right to silence. During the last interrogation, I was drained and fed up, so I confessed to some charges but not all. The interrogator gave me a document written in both Arabic and Hebrew and asked me to signed it. I signed after I read it and found it identical to what I had said.

 

After spending 22 days in solitary confinement they moved me to another cell where I spent seven more days with another prisoner who I knew. This was after I had confessed and things became much better.

 

My first military court hearing was a week after my arrest and it was at a court in Al-Jalama. My parents did not attend. I had four hearing during my time at Al-Jalama and my parents did not attend any of them.

 

After Al Jalama I was transferred to Megiddo prison, also inside Israel. I was searched with my clothes on before being taken to the minors’ section where I spent the rest of my sentence.

 

I had eight military court hearings. At the last one, which was two days before I was released, I was sentenced in a plea bargain to two months in prison and fined NIS 2,000. I was also given another six months in prison suspended for three years. I accepted the bargain because I wanted to go home.

 

In prison I exercised and chatted to the other prisoners and attended classes in Arabic, Hebrew and Mathematics.  I did not have any family visits because the visiting permit was not issued in time. I managed to call home from a phone provided by the prison authorities once every two weeks. 

 

I was released at Al Jalama checkpoint on 27 June 2022. My parents were not waiting for me because I was given early release. I found someone I knew at the checkpoint and he took me home. I arrived home at around 7:00 p.m.