PA investigators threatened to rape me, alleges former prisoner

A Palestinian mother who was released from a Palestinian Authority prison last week has told a press conference that the investigators there threatened to rape her. Suha Jbara’s defence team organised the media event to allow her to speak about the severe torture to which she was subjected during her detention by the PA security agencies.

It was while she was in Jericho Prison, the most notorious run by the PA, that the investigators threatened to rape her and her sisters, she explained. “During the investigation, which took place at night, the investigators threatened to bring my sisters to the prison and rape us together. They also insulted me with very bad words.”

Jbara pointed out that the awful treatment started as soon as she was admitted to the prison in Ramallah. “I collapsed,” she said, “then, they conducted a very degrading pregnancy test on me. They injected me with an unknown fluid which knocked me out. When I woke up I heard someone screaming, ‘You are in Jericho slaughterhouse.’”

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She alleged that she was kept handcuffed and blindfolded all the time. “The torture included pouring cold water on my body and beatings. The intention was to make me sign papers even though I did not know their content.”

Accused of collecting money illegally, Suha Jbara spent two months in PA prisons, during which time she was on hunger strike for 27 days.

The Director of Amnesty International in occupied Jerusalem, Saleh Hijazi, told a press conference on Saturday that the human rights group had informed the PA Public Prosecutor that Jbara was tortured. According to Al-Khaleej Online, the Prosecution Service responded by saying that, “All the measures taken against Jbara were appropriate as she was detained over criminal charges.”