Testimony: R.E.D.A.
Name: | R.E.D.A. |
Age: | 17 |
Date: | 28 March 2024 |
Location: | Deir Essudan, West Bank |
Accusation: | Membership of banned organisation |
On 28 March 2024, a 17-year-old minor was arrested by Israeli soldiers from home at 3:00 a.m. He reports ill treatment. He describes conditions inside prison including: beatings; inadequate food; and lack of clothing. He is unaware of whether he is being held in administrative detention or otherwise. As of July 2024, he remains in detention.
Israeli soldiers raided our home at around 3:00 a.m. They broke open our front door and walked in. They smashed up all the apartments in our building. My parents live on the ground floor, my brother and I live on the second floor and the third floor is furnished but not lived in.
Some soldiers came into my bedroom whilst I was still in bed and beat me. One soldier pulled me out of bed and pushed me against the wardrobe. I fell to the ground and he continued to beat me. I was in shock.
The soldiers locked my parents on the second floor and they took me where they were. They swore at me in front of my parents. Then a soldier tied my hands behind my back in front of my parents. He tied me with three plastic ties and tightened the hard. I still have marks on my wrists. He then blindfolded me. The soldiers arrested my brother and our neighbour too. They did not give my parents any documents.
The three of us were put in a settlers’ bus where I sat on the metal floor. My foot got stuck in the door as it was shut and it still hurts me until today. I lost sensation in my foot as if I was paralysed. Inside the bus soldiers beat me on my head. The bus drove for about 30 minutes to a military base. My brother and neighbour were put in a military jeep and I didn’t see them again.
At the military base I was left out in the sun all day. The soldiers continued to beat me while they drinking alcohol. They kicked me and spat at me and spilled alcohol on me. I asked for some food and water and they gave me a piece of cake and some water. A soldier deliberately knocked the glass of water out of my hand and it fell on the ground. I was tied the whole time; about 12 hours.
After about 12 hours I was taken to Ofer prison, near Jerusalem. On the way to Ofer the soldiers told me they were going to arrest my father and that I was never going to see him again. I asked to see a doctor but they refused. I was taken to section 13. Two days later I was taken for interrogation.
The interrogator asked me if I wanted to see a lawyer. Then he phoned a lawyer. I did not have a number of a lawyer so the lawyer that the interrogator called was his choice, not mine. The lawyer did not advise me on how to behave during the interrogation. He told me he was going to contact my parents and tell them I was fine.
I was tied and shackled during the interrogation. The female soldiers who took me to the interrogation room blindfolded me and beat me on the way. They removed the blindfold when I arrived at the interrogation room. I was interrogated for about 30 minutes. I was not beaten or threatened inside the interrogation room. I did not confess and the interrogator accused me of lying to him. He accused me of membership of a banned organisation and trading in weapons. At the end of the interrogation, he asked me to sign a document in Hebrew and I signed without understanding what was written. When I asked for translation, the interrogator refused. I asked to speak to my parents but he refused my request.
After the interrogation I was taken back to Ofer. The conditions there were very bad. We did not have enough time outdoors and when they allowed us to go out, they did not allow us to mix except with the detainees from one other cell. Food was bad; without salt or sugar, and the quantities were not enough. I lost a lot of weight. They don’t allow extra clothes into the prison; I am still in the same clothes I was wearing when I was arrested more than three months ago.
The guards are aggressive; they beat us up for no reason. When they do the rounds to count us, they slap and beat anyone who is not sitting the way they want him to sit. On Fridays they go around and tell us we are not allowed to pray in a group. When we attempted a hunger strike in protest of the prison conditions, they beat us up. On my way to come and meet with you I was beaten on my legs. The situation is a disaster, and I am constantly scared, they treat us like dogs. They did not provide fans and the weather is unbearably hot. The water we drink is hot.
When I last saw my lawyer, I asked him to let me know how my family are but he never came back with an answer. Whenever I ask him a question, he tells me he does not know. When I asked him about my sentence, he told me he did not know. Other detainees told me I was given an administrative detention order, but I don’t know for how long.