Palestinian journalists being ‘tortured’ in Israel jails

Female Palestinian journalist, Lama Khater, has said that she is being exposed to “torture” by Israeli interrogators who are attempting to get “baseless confessions” from her, Felesteen reported yesterday.

A lawyer from the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club (PPC) who visited Khater said: “Interrogators threaten to arrest relatives if she does not confess.” Khater did not give in to the pressure, the lawyer added.

The journalist spends all the time in jail sitting on a small chair, handcuffed and with her legs-chained in the investigation room. She is not allowed to leave except to go to the toilet.

The PPC stressed the 42-year-old mother had been subjected to “harsh and continuous” interrogation from the minute she was detained, noting that some interrogation sessions lasted up to 20 hours.

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An active columnist who is critical of the occupation and the Palestinian Authorities’ cooperation with it, Khater is being held because Israel believes her work is a “time bomb”.

Her husband, Hazim Al-Fakhouri, said that his wife told him during the court hearing two days ago that she had started to suffer from sever pains in her back due to the prolonged hours sitting on the interrogation chair.

He stressed that the Israeli occupation is putting pressure on his wife in order to get confessions that it could use to indict her.

Al-Fakhouri said that the Israeli interrogators also threaten to harm her two-year-old son.