Prisoners expose the brutality of the occupation prisons

Recently, harrowing and documented testimonies have emerged regarding the sexual assault of Palestinian prisoners within Israeli prisons, bringing these violations to light after years of silence.

These testimonies reveal systematic rape and torture perpetrated as official policy, not merely isolated incidents, amidst international silence and political complicity that provides cover for impunity.

The British website Middle East Eye published testimonies from two released prisoners who spoke in detail about their experiences of sexual assault and physical and psychological torture within Israeli prisons, in what human rights organizations have described as a deliberate policy within the prison system.

Palestinian journalist Sami al-Sa’i, who was arrested in February 2024 and subsequently placed under administrative detention without charge or trial, said that what he endured in prison “constitutes a fully-fledged crime.”

According to his testimony, al-Sa’i was taken to the prison clinic before being led to a closed room where he was severely beaten, subjected to grave insults, and sexually assaulted with objects while handcuffed and blindfolded, in the presence of several prison guards.

He indicated that the assault was accompanied by direct threats against him and his family, and deliberate mockery of his profession as a journalist, emphasizing that the guards acted with complete impunity and without fear of any accountability.

Al-Sa’i said: “What happened to me was not an exception, but rather a model of what prisoners endure daily. The silence was suffocating, but remaining silent about a crime is another crime.”