RAMALLAH, Wednesday, June 19, 2024 (WAFA) - The Detainees' and Ex-Detainees' Affairs Commission and the Palestinian Prisoners' Society (PPS) said that lawyer Khaled Mahajna was able to carry out a visit to detained journalist Mohammad Saber Arab, 42, who was working as a correspondent for Al-Arabi Channel before he was arrested 100 days ago by Israeli forces in Gaza during the widespread aggression against Al-Shifa Medical Complex last March.
The two institution added in a statement issued today that the visit took place under strict restrictions and supervision by the Israeli occupation soldiers, and that the first question asked by Arab to the lawyer, “Where am I?”, as the journalist did not know that he was being detained in Sde Teman camp.
Mahajna conveyed Arab's testimony, which is added to the horrific, appalling, and shocking testimonies reported by the released Gaza detainees regarding conditions of detention degrading human dignity.
The testimony includes talk about the slain detainees, and about the torture, abuse, and humiliation operations they were subjected to, and the rape cases they were subjected to.
According to the detainee, "The camp administration keeps the detainees shackled 24 hours a day and blindfolded."
For 50 days, Arab has not changed his clothes, and only before the visit was he allowed to change his pants, while he remained with a jacket that he had not changed for 50 days.
“Over the course of time, they are subjected to torture, abuse, and various forms of assault, including sexual assaults, including rape, all of which led to the killing of detainees. The beatings, abuse, humiliation, and insults do not stop, and no detainee is allowed talking to any other detainee, and whoever speaks is severely beaten until the detainees are talking to themselves, and continue to praise and pray in secret, said Arab, as he added that detainees are deprived of praying and practicing any religious rituals.
As for the conditions of detention of the sick and wounded, there are those whose limbs were amputated, and bullets were removed from their limbs without anesthesia.
Arab reported more about the most prominent detention conditions to which they are subjected. In addition to the process of restraint and blindfolding that takes place over time, detainees are surrounded by police dogs all the time, and every four detainees are allowed to use the bathroom for a minute, and whoever exceeds the time is subject to punishment.
The detained journalist added that detainees sleep on the ground, and use their shoes as pillows for sleeping. As for bathing, the available time is once a week for a minute, and sleeping during the day is prohibited.
He pointed out that 50 days after his arrest, he was allowed to shave his hair. As for food, it consists of a few bites of labneh and a piece of cucumbers or tomatoes, which is the meal that is served to them all the time.
Arab sent a message through the lawyer Mahajna to the world and to all international human rights institutions, in which he said that what they are being subjected to is no less than the genocide to which Palestinian people are being subjected in Gaza, directing his demand for the necessity of immediate action to save them, and continue to convey their suffering.
The Detainees' and Ex-Detainees' Affairs Commission and the Palestinian Prisoners' Society confirmed that that this visit carried a new confirmation of the level of horrific crimes to which prisoners are exposed in the occupation prisons and camps, and specifically the conditions of detention to which Gaza detainees have been exposed since the beginning of the war of genocide.
K.T
