Btselem /18 April 2024

I live in the town of Kharas, west of Hebron, with my wife and four children. I was arrested on 6 June 2022. I previously spent 16 years in Israeli prison, ten of which were under administrative detention without any charge or trial. I suffer from a viral liver disease, which I contracted during my previous stint in prison. 

During my recent detention, I spent two weeks in Ofer Prison and was then transferred to Negev Prison (Ketziot), where I stayed until June 2023. From there I was moved to Nafha Prison.

Thaer Halahleh afer his release. Photo: Basel al-Adrah, B’Tselem 

On 7 October 2023, I was in Nafha Prison, in cell 3 on wing 4 with eight other inmates. As soon as the war started, the prison turned into a torture facility. The guards locked the cell doors and forbade us from leaving. They also confiscated everything we had: the TV, hot plate, kettle, and all electrical appliances in the room, as well as our clothes and shoes. They left each of us with one set of clothes, one pair of shoes, one blanket, a mattress, a bottle of shampoo and a toothbrush.

The way they did roll calls also changed. Until then, we just had to stand in the cell during the count. After 7 October, the guards drew a line at the entrance to the cell that we weren’t allowed to go near, and when they counted us, we had to kneel in the prayer prostration position with our hands on our heads.

The guards also removed the doors from the showers, leaving us no privacy

They withheld medication from us and I didn’t get the medicine for my liver disease. They added four more inmates to our cell, and there were nine of us. Four had to sleep on the floor. Each cell got 15 minutes a week to shower, so we took turns, one week on and one week off. The guards also removed the doors from the showers, leaving us no privacy. After the shower, we had to wear the same dirty clothes, which over time led to the spread of fungal diseases among inmates. One prisoner from the town of Tel in Nablus District got scabies, and even he was denied treatment.

They began to beat and torture us in all kinds of ways. A prisoner from Hebron who came to our cell from Ofer Prison arrived with a swollen face. The guards put him in the cell in a humiliating manner — they dragged him by the clothes and threw him on the cell floor. He later told me that before that, one of the guards kicked him in the face.

That day, a sewage pipe that ran through our cell suddenly burst. We got soaked in filthy water, as well as our clothes, the mattresses and the cell floor. The stench was awful. We started cleaning the cell and informed the guards what happened. After we cleaned the cell and the problem was fixed, the guards said they were moving us to solitary confinement as punishment and claimed we had caused the damage. The guards came into the cell, ordered us to turn around and tied our hands behind our backs. Two guards led each inmate, one holding the arms and the other grabbing the head and pushing it down. They led us like that for about 300 meters, kicking and punching our arms and legs, and cursing us the whole way.

I cleaned a plastic garbage bag and filled it with water so we could drink and wash for prayers at other times.

They put me and four other detainees into an isolation cell meant for two people. It was very small and had a tiny toilet. There were no mattresses, and there was a window without glass. It was very cold, especially at night because we were in the desert. Running water was only available 15 minutes a day — not at a fixed time, but when the guard on duty felt like it. I cleaned a plastic garbage bag and filled it with water so we could drink and wash for prayers at other times. The water tasted bad, but we had to drink it. Every night, late at night, they brought us each a mattress and blanket, and early in the morning took them away. There were no cleaning supplies or toilet paper. We didn’t shower the entire time we were in there. They searched the cell every day. We received three meals a day, but the amount of food wasn’t enough for even one person. I was dizzy and weak all day, and was very afraid because I wasn’t getting my medication. I felt like death was hovering over me all the time. There were a lot insects in the isolation cell because of the toilet and the filth. We suffered from bites and pimples and our skin itched. After nine days, they took us back to our original cell.

At around 6:00 A.M. on 31 December 2023, while we were sleeping, members of the Metzada unit came in with a dog. At the time, there were 12 inmates in the cell, with four sleeping on the floor. They tied our hands behind our backs with metal handcuffs and then started giving us an extremely thorough body search. They forced us to strip and used a handheld metal detector. After they finished the search, they took us to another cell. Two unit members took each detainee, kicking us and pushing our heads down along the way. When we reached the door of the second cell, two more unit members were waiting for us. They removed our handcuffs, beat us, and threw us forcefully inside. There were already 13 prisoners in the cell, so altogether we were 25 people in there. That day we received food only at 2:00 P.M., and then they moved us to an empty cell with only iron beds. After an hour, the guards came and told us they’d found a radio and a battery in our cell, and they’d take us to isolation as punishment. In the end, they didn’t follow through. They gave each prisoner a mattress and a thin blanket, and we stayed in that cell for two months. That whole time, the guards constantly swore at us. There was no light in that cell at all, day and night.

The whole six months I was in prison during the war, we were completely cut off from the outside world. We had no contact with our families. I missed my children and my wife very much, and was very worried about them because of the situation. I also had no contact with lawyers.

We were also forbidden to go outside to the yard, unlike before. For 191 days, I didn’t see the sun.

During that period, I lost 35 kilos because the food was so poor in quality and quantity. I remember the rice the guards would bring us. It felt like it was just soaked in hot water without being cooked at all. We had to eat it, and anyway each prisoner was given only one or two spoonfuls per meal. That was a major change, because before the war, we cooked our own food and had as much as we wanted. We were also forbidden to go outside to the yard, unlike before. For 191 days, I didn’t see the sun. They also prohibited haircuts and communal prayer. We weren’t even allowed to hold the ‘Eid al-Fitr prayer on 10 April 2024.

Those were the conditions up until my release. Then, on 15 April 2024 at 10:00 A.M., a guard came and told me I was being transferred to another prison. I had no idea I was about to be released. They took me out of the wing along with four other detainees, all of us handcuffed. They bent our heads down and led us in a humiliating manner about 400 meters, to the solitary confinement cells near the entrance to the prison. Along the way, the guards beat us on our backs, swore at us and insulted us. They put us in a very small, empty waiting room. There were 13 of us, and we sat crammed in there for many hours. Then the guards started taking us out one by one to the deputy warden’s office. They conducted a humiliating strip search on all of us, and then the Nachshon unit people, who specialize in prison transfers, arrived.

Every time I tried to move away from the dog, the guard would kick me hard in the legs, and another guard would grab me by the testicles and push me forward hard while swearing at me.

They ordered all of us to kneel by a wall with our heads bowed and our hands still cuffed behind our backs. My handcuffs were very tight and painful. Then they took us to a bus. On the way, one of the guards pushed me hard and I crashed into a prisoner in front of me. I couldn’t say anything to him, because we were forbidden from talking to each other. Each Nachshon member held a detainee, and another held a dog and let it attack us. The dog had a metal muzzle, and the guard kept loosening the leash and then pulling it back. It was very frightening. Every time I tried to move away from the dog, the guard would kick me hard in the legs, and another guard would grab me by the testicles and push me forward hard while swearing at me. I was very angry and felt extremely humiliated in front of the other detainees.

The bus took us to the Meitar crossing south of Hebron, where we were released. I’m still very weak, can’t move freely and can’t eat normally.

* Testimony given to B'Tselem field researcher Basel al-Adrah on 18 April 2024